Cryptocurrency markets remain optimistic on Thursday as Bitcoin rallies Trading near weekly highs $93,500 and Ethereum With the Fusaka upgrade, the price rises to $3,200.
The Fear & Greed Index rose to 27/100, exiting “extreme fear” territory as a degree of optimism began to enter the market.
It’s worth noting that Bitcoin and most other coins are still in a downtrend since early October, forming a series of lower highs and lower lows. To break this trend, Bitcoin would need to start forming highs above $98,500, which would show signs of a meaningful bullish reversal.
The CoinDesk 20 (CD20) index has gained 1.13% in the past 24 hours as the market begins to strengthen based on Tuesday’s rebound.
Derivatives Positioning
- Bitcoin’s options-based 30-day implied volatility index BVIV fell to 48.44%, its lowest level since November 14, reversing a rise to 65% on November 21, when spot prices fell to nearly $80,000 on some exchanges.
- The decline invalidated the bullish trend line from September, suggesting that a low-volatility environment going forward will support a bull case for spot prices.
- The Ethereum Volatility Index fell to 72%, its lowest level since November 3.
- On Deribit, BTC puts continue to command a premium over calls across all time frames, while Ethereum options show slight bullishness beyond the August 2026 expiry. This is a sign of continued demand for protective put and call coverage strategies.
- The $100,000 call option was once again the most popular options trade, with open interest reaching $2.82 billion.
- Streak options dominate Bitcoin and Ethereum block traffic.
- In the futures market, ZEC’s open interest (OI) increased by more than 6% in 24 hours, and ETH’s OI increased by 4%. There were signs of speculative activity in FART futures, with OI increasing by 22%.
token talk
- Despite the overall strength in the market, the altcoin market remains sluggish.
- CoinMarketCap’s “Altcoin Season” indicator has fallen back to 20/100 after being 5 points higher at the beginning of the month.
- The move highlights the preference investors are showing for Bitcoin over altcoins, which are typically riskier.
- There have been some exceptions in the past 24 hours: TAO, ENA and AVAX have all risen between 4.5% and 8.5%.
- On the other hand, Hedera (HBAR) fell 3.8% as momentum from the launch of the spot ETF began to wane, with trading volumes falling 15% to $245 million in the past 24 hours.
- The difference between today’s altcoin market and the market a year ago is stark: in late 2024 it was rife with viral memecoins and the emergence of decentralized derivatives exchanges, while now the retail audience appears to have moved on or moved on, leaving behind a range of tokens that rise and fall based on actual developments rather than purely speculative sentiment.
- This maturity bodes well for the coming cycle, as it means industries have the potential to outperform broader trends, as evidenced by the recent surge in privacy coins during the period when Bitcoin and Ethereum hit multi-month lows.
- By the way, privacy coins have now entered a correction phase after rising from September to the end of November. ZEC fell 29.4% over the past week, and DASH fell 22%.
