Crypto markets remain under pressure ahead of key U.S. inflation data due Wednesday, with expectations that May CPI could show inflation rising above 4%.
Altcoins are broadly weaker. Zcash (ZEC) and Hyperliquid’s HYPE token have both fallen more than 10% over the past 24 hours, while ADA, ONDO, and BCH are down over 4%. The CoinDesk 20 Index also declined roughly 3% in the same period.
Bitcoin (BTC) has slipped back below $61,500, erasing much of its weekend rebound that briefly pushed prices above $64,000 on some exchanges. The move also places BTC under its 200-week simple moving average, a key long-term technical level closely followed by traders.
FxPro analyst Alex Kuptsikevich said that historically, sustained trading around this level has often aligned with extended bear phases lasting several months.
Derivatives show defensive bias
Crypto futures markets show a cautious setup. Total futures volume rose 1.2% to $193 billion, while open interest fell 1.5% to $102.27 billion. Liquidations surged 38% to $418 million, with long positions making up more than $300 million of forced exits as prices dropped toward $61,000.
Bitcoin futures open interest increased to 728,000 BTC despite the price decline, suggesting traders are adding short exposure in anticipation of further downside.
Negative funding rates and a negative volume delta reinforce the bearish positioning, indicating aggressive selling into bids rather than passive accumulation.
Solana futures open interest rose to 69.58 million tokens, near recent highs, while funding and flow indicators remain negative—consistent with broader market weakness.
Across major tokens including ETH and XRP, funding remains negative, with XMR the only notable exception showing mild strength.
Bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility climbed to 51.21% from 45.8%, reflecting heightened uncertainty ahead of CPI. Ether volatility has also moved higher.
On Deribit, short-dated puts for BTC and ETH continue to trade at a premium to calls, signaling strong demand for downside hedges. One-week implied volatility also remains elevated versus realized volatility, favoring options buyers.
A July options structure suggests traders are positioned for consolidation rather than a decisive breakout.
Token distortions and market signals
Uniswap V4’s total value locked appeared to surge more than 350% in a single day due to apparent inflows on BNB Chain. However, the spike was later traced to distorted data caused by the hacked Humanity Protocol H token, which was minted in unlimited supply and artificially inflated liquidity metrics.
Separately, Santiment said crypto markets are entering a historically attractive buy zone based on 30-day MVRV readings. Recent buyers are underwater across major assets: bitcoin (-10%), ether (-12%), XRP (-8%), and cardano (-18%). The firm labels most conditions as “fair buy,” with cardano marked as a “strong buy.”
In token-specific developments, MORPHO gained 12% after its onchain lending protocol raised $175 million in a major funding round led by Paradigm, a16z crypto, and Ribbit Capital, alongside Apollo and VanEck. The raise valued the protocol at up to $2 billion, though prices later gave back part of the rally.
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