Smaller cryptocurrencies are once again outperforming as bitcoin, ether and other major digital assets remain trapped in a volatile but narrow trading range.
BTW, the native token of Bitway, is leading the advance. The bitcoin-compatible layer-1 token has gained 25% over the past 24 hours and is up 170% during the last 30 days.
Bitway uses proof-of-stake consensus and provides infrastructure for decentralized finance (DeFi). Its BTW token has also attracted increased attention on social media following the conclusion of Binance Wallet’s “Booster Season 5” campaign on Oct. 2. The promotion offered rewards for deposits and may have contributed to increased retail participation.
The strength in BTW comes as part of a wider move into smaller-cap altcoins. Filecoin’s FIL has climbed 12% over the past 24 hours, while LayerZero’s ZRO has gained 10%. Both tokens have risen at least 50% over the past four weeks. Midnight’s NIGHT has also advanced 8% over the same 24-hour period.
Meanwhile, SKY, VVV and DASH ranked among the three weakest performers within the 100 largest tokens by market capitalization.
Bitcoin Remains Trapped in Its Range
Bitcoin has continued to struggle for a decisive move. BTC was trading around $85,900 at the time of writing after falling to levels near $85,000 earlier in the day.
Alex Kuptsikevich, chief market analyst at TheFxPro, said a deeper breakdown could quickly increase selling pressure.
“A break below $84K would signal a victory for the bears, and a break below the recent local lows at $83K would confirm this with even greater certainty. In this scenario, the leading cryptocurrency could fall to $80K fairly quickly,” he said.
Ether was also trading within the broader range, with ETH at $2,712.86, while bitcoin stood at $86,199.35 based on the quoted market data.
Derivatives Positioning Cools
Bitcoin futures positioning has remained relatively stable. Open interest was roughly unchanged at $21.9 billion, compared with $22.0 billion previously.
Funding rates have eased slightly and are now broadly between 0% and 5% annualized across venues, down from the previous 4% to 10% range. The three-month annualized basis remained steady at between 5% and 6%.
The data suggests leverage is stabilizing after Friday’s increase. Leveraged long positions remain in the market, but funding pressure has moderated.
Options activity continued to favor calls. The 24-hour put/call volume ratio stood at 62/38 in favor of calls. The one-week 25-delta skew remained negative at approximately -2%.
The at-the-money term structure was unchanged and remained in contango, with the front end around 24% to 25% and climbing toward roughly 39% by late 2027.
CoinGlass data showed $163 million in crypto liquidations over 24 hours, with longs accounting for 63% and shorts 27%. Bitcoin led liquidations with $51 million in notional value, followed by other assets at $21 million and ether at $19 million.
The Binance liquidation heatmap identified $87,150 as a key liquidation area to watch if bitcoin moves higher.
Privacy Tokens and Altcoins Attract Buyers
Privacy-focused cryptocurrencies were among the stronger performers despite broader market weakness. Monero (XMR) rose 1.9% to $557, while Zcash (ZEC) added 2.5% to move back above $1,350. Demand for anonymous layer-1 assets has remained firm as macroeconomic sentiment shifts.
NEAR Protocol was another notable altcoin gainer. NEAR climbed 4.5% over 24 hours to $5.25 as buying interest returned following last week’s sharp market-wide decline.
Not every smaller token participated in the rebound. Rain Protocol’s RAIN fell 5.6%, making it one of the day’s biggest decliners as selling resumed following recent supply emissions and broader profit-taking among speculative low-cap tokens.
Large DeFi tokens remained relatively subdued. Uniswap (UNI) declined 1.4% to $8.89, while Chainlink (LINK) slipped 1.2% to $14, reflecting continued range-bound trading across major decentralized-finance protocols.
Sui (SUI) also surrendered some of its recent gains, falling 3.2% over 24 hours to around $1.20 as the layer-1 token continued to absorb the volatility of recent trading sessions.
The broader picture remains one of selective strength rather than a market-wide breakout, with smaller altcoins attracting attention while bitcoin continues to trade close to the $85,000-$86,000 area.
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