The crypto market held steady early Wednesday as bitcoin (BTC) reclaimed territory above $112,000.
Smaller tokens led the advance: IP, MNT and PUMP each posted double-digit gains over the prior 24 hours, pushing CoinMarketCap’s altcoin season index to nearly 60% — a sign many traders see as the start of an altcoin cycle. Story Protocol’s IP token climbed past $10 after Heritage Distillery announced it would adopt altcoins as part of its corporate treasury, using crypto assets to build IP reserves.
Market participants are now focused on U.S.
inflation data due tomorrow, which could set the next clear direction for risk assets.
Analysts at Bitunix wrote that short-term sentiment still leans toward hope for rate cuts as inflation and jobs data converge. If the incoming figures remain in a moderate range, risk assets may have room to rally; but if inflation prints hotter than expected, a stronger dollar could weigh on BTC and ETH.
Bitunix highlighted support levels to monitor: BTC near 108,800 and ETH around 4,250. Derivatives Positioning
By Omkar Godbole
– BTC futures open interest (OI) has been largely unchanged over the past 24 hours as many traders sit on the sidelines ahead of tomorrow’s U.S.
CPI report.
– OI rose by more than 2% for ETH, SOL and HYPE, while XRP, SUI, ADA and ENA experienced net capital outflows.
- – Annualized funding rates for most large tokens — with the exceptions of TRX and XLM — are hovering at or above 10%, signaling a generally bullish tilt but not indicating excessive leverage or overheating.
- – On the CME, notional open interest in BTC options climbed to a record $5.6 billion, even as futures activity stayed muted.
- – On Deribit, BTC and ETH put options expiring in December continue to trade at a premium to calls, reflecting persistent downside hedging. – Block trades reported at OTC desk Paradigm included a long position in an ether $4,000 put with a Sept.
- 26 expiry.
- Token Talk
By Oliver Knight– The market appears to be in an “altcoin season” even though overall sentiment remains skewed toward the negative.
- – CoinMarketCap’s altcoin season score rose to 59/100, surpassing August’s high of 57 as capital rotates into more speculative names.
- – Santiment noted traders have grown increasingly negative, with expectations that bitcoin could fall back below $100K, Ethereum back under $3.5K, and altcoins potentially facing a retrace.
- – Mantle (MNT) and Pyth (PYTH) were among the leaders, gaining roughly 15% and 10%, respectively, in the last 24 hours.
- – Bitcoin remains around $112,500 and has been rangebound between about $107,000 and $113,000 for over two weeks, following failed attempts to break above $124,000.
- – Historically, altcoin rallies have often happened while BTC consolidates, as traders rotate funds into higher-risk tokens without fearing a large missed move in bitcoin.
– Data provider Santiment observed that prices are climbing while sentiment is becoming more pessimistic.
