Bitcoin (BTC) price holds below $81,000 with Trump-Xi talks on the horizon

Bitcoin Bitcoin$80,639.36A leading indicator of risk sentiment, it remains a model of stability ahead of President Donald Trump’s arrival in Beijing for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The largest cryptocurrency has recently been trading 0.5% higher at $80,900 since midnight UTC, in line with gains in the CoinDesk 5 Index (CD5). All five members of the index advanced. The broader CoinDesk 20 index (CD20) was up 1.3%, while the CoinDesk 80 (CD80) was little changed, indicating particular focus on the largest coins.

Trump-Xi talks could touch on tariffs, rare earth supply chains and the Middle East. Any positive outcome, even a symbolic one on paper, could improve overall market sentiment and support risk assets

Ethereum (ETH) has risen 1.3% since midnight to $2,300 after the Ethereum Foundation released “Clear Signatures,” a new standard designed to prevent users from unknowingly approving malicious crypto transactions.

Among altcoins, Injective Blockchain’s INJ token surged 24%, its biggest gain since February 19, while Polkadot’s DOT and TRUMP memecoin also gained 5%.

Derivatives positions

• BNB futures open interest (OI) increased to 6.15 million tokens, up more than 5% in 24 hours and the highest level since April 3. The move signals new capital inflows.
• ZEC’s OI growth is the largest among major cryptocurrencies. Its 24-hour cumulative volume delta (CVD) is also positive and the highest among major currencies.
• It was also a sign of new money flowing into the market, with traders buying through market orders rather than passive limit orders, indicating strong bullish sentiment.
• Still, the BNB market doesn’t look overheated. Funding rates remain below 10% annualized, which is a sign of healthy bullish conditions and that leverage has not increased excessively. Its market capitalization has increased to $92.2 billion, its highest level since March 18, reflecting renewed investor interest.
• DOGE’s OI has increased by 5.75% to 15.38 billion tokens, with its price chart showing a bullish crossover of the widely tracked 50-day and 100-day simple moving averages. At the time of writing, the coin is trading up 4% at 11 cents. Other key indicators are showing a similar bullish pattern for BNB, indicating improving speculative demand.
• Another notable one is Ethereum (ETH), which is the second-largest coin by market capitalization. The OI of Ethereum futures exceeded 15 million ETH, close to the record of 15.3 million set in July last year.
• The increasing demand for leverage, combined with the tightening Bollinger Bands, suggests there is plenty of room for volatility to flourish.
• Bitcoin’s OI has basically remained around 740,000 BTC over the past 24 hours, indicating that Bitcoin’s positioning is relatively stable compared to altcoins.
• Generally speaking, with the exception of BNB, XRP, and TRX, most coins have negative 24-hour CVD, meaning that the altcoin market is dominated by sellers shorting via market orders rather than passive limit orders. That suggests caution amid broader market strength.
• Markets remained calm even as macro risks piled up in developed countries in the form of higher inflation and stronger bond yields. This is evident from the continued decline in the 30-day Implied Volatility Index for Bitcoin and Ethereum. Ethereum’s EVIV index hit a new year-to-date low below 55%, while the BVIV index remains near 40%, last reaching levels at the end of January.
• The subdued volatility environment suggests traders are yet to price in major near-term turmoil.
• In Deribit’s options market, calls with higher strike prices continue to dominate the volume rankings. Call options represent bullish bets on underlying Bitcoin.
• As for bulk flows, put spreads and straddles emerged as the preferred strategies over the past 24 hours, suggesting traders are bracing for downside protection and a potential increase in volatility.

token talk

• The DeFi United initiative appears to be restoring confidence in the decentralized finance ecosystem with the Aave token Aviv$98.13Arbitrum (ARB) and Lido (LDO) have recovered somewhat over the past week.
• In the seven-day period, AAVE rose 3%, ARB rose 16%, and LDO rose 11%. ARB’s move is notable in the wake of the Kelp DAO exploit, which hit the Arbitrum lending market and caused wrapped ether to become stranded on the chain.
• The April 18 attack released unbacked rsETH via Kelp’s LayerZero OFT bridge. Aave’s incident report attributed the path to forged LayerZero packets and a single DVN configuration, while LayerZero linked the attack to North Korea’s Lazarus group. It triggered widespread recovery efforts.
• The first phase of recovery is now complete. The attacker’s rsETH on Arbitrum was burned, eliminating the unbacked supply, and Aave V3 positions associated with the attacker were forcibly liquidated.
• The 117,132 rsETH, worth approximately $278 million, will be gradually refilled into the LayerZero bridge adapter over the next two weeks. Withdrawals are expected to resume within 24 hours of the first payment.
• A separate legal proceeding is ongoing involving 30,765 ETH (approximately $71 million) frozen by the Arbitrum Security Committee. A U.S. federal court approved an Arbitrum governance vote to move funds to Aave-controlled wallets while placing recovered ETH under court restrictions.