Digital asset markets stayed under strain Monday even as U.S. stock-index futures climbed roughly 0.25% from midnight UTC levels.
Bitcoin traded around $68,710, down 0.1% on the session, while several alternative tokens — including HYPE, ZEC and XMR — dropped more than 3%.
Ethereum diverged from the broader market, rising 0.43% and pushing back toward the $2,000 mark after enduring intense weekend selling. The slide was partly attributed to large transfers linked to trader Garrett Jin. On-chain data shows a wallet associated with Jin sent over $540 million in ETH to Binance, triggering a sharp jump in exchange sell volume and driving the token into oversold territory — conditions that helped fuel Monday’s bounce.
In traditional markets, gold changed hands near $5,000, easing from its Jan. 29 peak of $5,600 but still outperforming silver and cryptocurrencies, which have fallen 36% and 21%, respectively, over the same span. U.S. cash markets were closed for a public holiday.
Futures and volatility trends
Risk reduction remains visible in derivatives markets. Total notional open interest (OI) across crypto futures slipped to $98 billion, signaling continued capital outflows.
Over the past 24 hours, OI declined 1% in bitcoin futures and 2.7% in ether futures, with XRP, DOGE, SUI and ADA contracts posting drops of 6% or more. By contrast, open interest in futures tied to tokenized gold (XAUT) rose 8%, reflecting defensive positioning.
Implied volatility has also cooled. Thirty-day volatility gauges for BTC and ETH have retreated from nearly 100% annualized during the recent sell-off to around 50%, indicating that traders are dialing back extreme risk expectations. However, the volatility gap between ether and bitcoin is widening, suggesting markets anticipate relatively larger price swings in ETH.
Funding rates across several altcoins — including XRP, TRX, DOGE and SOL — remain negative, pointing to a preference for short exposure. Should prices stabilize further, that setup could spark a short squeeze.
On the CME, SOL futures trade with an annualized premium near zero, signaling softening demand, while BTC and ETH contracts retain slight premiums.
Options activity presents a mixed picture. On Deribit, a trader paid $3 million in premium for a $75,000-strike bitcoin call option, a sizable bullish bet. Even so, put options for BTC and ETH remain more expensive than calls across maturities, reflecting persistent downside hedging.
Altcoin weakness persists
The broader altcoin segment drifted lower during thin Sunday liquidity before modest stabilization early Monday.
DOGE fell more than 10% over the past day but leveled off after midnight UTC. XRP gained 1% over the same period, though it remains about 8% lower than Sunday morning levels.
LayerZero’s ZRO continued to lose momentum, sliding over 34% in five days, including a 10% drop in the past 24 hours. The pullback follows the launch of its native blockchain developed in collaboration with Citadel Securities and Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation.
Performance across indexes underscored the divide. The bitcoin-heavy CoinDesk 5 Index rose 0.38% since midnight UTC, while the altcoin-focused CoinDesk 80 Index slipped 0.17%, highlighting continued relative weakness outside bitcoin.
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