Bitcoin (BTC) approached the $67,000 threshold early Friday, but met resistance before successfully breaking through. Despite this, the cryptocurrency has shown a modest increase of approximately 1% since midnight UTC. Ethereum (ETH) mirrored this trend, rising by half as much, with current values pegged at $1,962.66. On a broader scale, the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) remained relatively stable, showing a slight increase of 0.7%.
These incremental gains suggest a recovery from a significant downturn during U.S. trading yesterday, which saw the cryptocurrency market descend towards the lower thresholds observed last week. However, despite this brief recovery, Bitcoin is poised for its fourth consecutive week of declines—a streak not seen since mid-November of the previous year.
A notable factor contributing to this market behavior is a marked slowdown in trading activity coupled with diminishing volatility. Traders appear to be closely monitoring the upcoming U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) release for potential market direction. A CPI reading that surpasses expectations could lead to a rise in bond yields and the U.S. dollar, further exerting pressure on risk assets. Conversely, a lower-than-anticipated reading might foster a conducive environment for risk-taking.
For Bitcoin to reach the ambitious price target of $85,000, industry experts like Deribit’s Chief Commercial Officer, Jean-David Péquignot, have stated that a significant market rally would need to occur, indicating a potential shift in the long-term trajectory of the leading cryptocurrency.
On the derivatives side, the market is showing signs of renewed activity as open interest (OI) dipped to $15.5 billion, suggesting a significant cleanup of leveraged positions as the market transitions. Perpetual funding rates across all trading venues have shifted from neutral to positive, now ranging from 0% to 8%. This optimism is also echoed by institutional players, with the three-month annualized basis rising to just over 3%, representing the first substantial indication of renewed professional interest.
The Bitcoin options market has reported an uptick in call volume at 65%, despite the one-week 25-delta skew easing to 17.9%. This surge in activity suggests that while traders are engaging in “bottom-fishing” strategies, they are still willing to pay a high premium for immediate volatility protection, reflected in the current backwardation of the implied volatility (IV) term structure.
According to Coinglass data, liquidations over a 24-hour span amounted to $256 million, with longs facing a higher rate of liquidation at 69% compared to shorts. Bitcoin led the charge with $112 million in liquidations, followed by Ethereum with $52 million, and other cryptocurrencies accounting for $16 million. The Binance liquidation heatmap has highlighted $68,800 as an essential level to watch for potential price rises.
In other market movements, the PUMP token associated with the Solana-based memecoin launchpad Pump.fun has gained over 5% in the last 24 hours. The platform recently introduced a new feature allowing token communities to allocate fees directly through its mobile app via GitHub account integration. This innovation simplifies the process for creators to receive automatic payouts based on their community’s fees, with plans for additional social features expected in the near future. Pump.fun has historically been a significant player in the memecoin trading frenzy, with its monthly trading volume peaking at $11 billion last year, although it has since tapered to approximately $1 billion last month, as reported by DeFiLlama.
