Bitcoin hovered around the $63,600 level as the newest U.S. inflation readings met expectations, soothing nerves without sparking a clear market move. Since midnight UTC, the top cryptocurrency has risen by about 0.3%, while the total crypto market capitalization declined roughly 0.54% over the last 24 hours to around $2.18 trillion. July’s CPI came in at 3.4% year over year, in line with forecasts, with core inflation easing to 2.5% from 2.6%. Traders are eyeing the producer price index release at 12:30 UTC for a potential push in a market that remains largely range-bound.
In traditional markets, S&P 500 futures ticked higher by about 0.13%, while Nasdaq 100 futures held near unchanged levels.
Derivatives positioning
- Trading activity remains active, with 24-hour futures volume around $147 billion, up 6% on the day, yet total open interest (OI) across crypto futures staying near $116 billion, implying a cautious stance rather than a decisive follow-through.
- XRP futures continue to show high OI around 2.67 billion tokens — a multi-month peak — and a negative 24-hour CVD suggests more bearish bets are being placed at market prices. Still, the annualized funding rate around 8% signals sustained bullish pressure over time.
- ADA and BCH present a bearish tilt with funding rates near or below -10%, complemented by negative 24-hour CVD and elevated OI levels, especially for ADA which hovers close to a recent record, indicating new short positions being established amid heavy participation.
- AVAX moved from a top gainer to the biggest OI loser in the last 24 hours, with other names like LTC, LINK and SOL following suit.
- Implied volatility remains subdued for both bitcoin and ether, pointing to expectations of limited near-term price swings.
- Upside sentiment persists, as one large BTC call order at the $65,500 strike was purchased for about $1.07 million in premium, a bearish-on-short-term horizon positioned as an ultra-short-term bullish bet with August 15 expiry.
Token activity
- XMR has risen about 3.15% since yesterday to roughly $404, continuing a weekly gain of over 11% for the privacy-focused coin.
- HYPE is up around 1.75% on the day at $57, maintaining a gradual climb with a 2% weekly increase.
- FET and NEAR logged modest gains of 0.84% and 0.94% respectively, underscoring a handful of mid-cap altcoins outpacing the two biggest assets, BTC and ETH.
- CRV retraced 8.38% over 24 hours to 25 cents after a recent surge, though it still sits more than 22% higher for the week following a breakout from a prolonged downtrend.
- DeFi token MORPHO lagged, down about 1.51% since the previous session.
