Bitcoin Slips to $83,000 as Altcoins Erase Friday Gains

Sep 28, 2026, 6:15 a.m. EDT

4 min read

Monday selloff hits altcoin market (CoinDesk data)

Summary

Bitcoin slid down to $83,000, registering a 1.7% drop since midnight UTC, whereas lesser digital assets suffered heavier blows with the CoinDesk 100 falling 2.6% to settle at 1,874.56.
The top performers from Friday saw the steepest reversals, evidenced by the DeFi Select Index dropping 6.4% and the CoinDesk Computing Index sliding 3.2% following their leadership in the prior week’s rotation.
Brent crude advanced past $100 after President Donald Trump dismissed Iran’s prerequisites for unlocking the Strait of Hormuz, while silver, gold, and United States equity futures all trended downward.

Bitcoin BTC$85,947.24 dropped to $83,000 on Monday, marking a 1.7% decline since midnight UTC and a 2.1% loss over a 24-hour period, though the alternative coin sector bore the brunt of the correction as 91 out of the 100 assets in the CoinDesk 100 recorded losses for the day, bringing the total index down 2.6% to 1,874.56.

This market correction acts nearly as a direct reflection of Friday’s activity; quant (QNT) dropped 16% since midnight after surging 39% across the preceding 24 hours of Friday’s trading, indexing protocol token the graph GRT$0.02971 decreased by 12% after previously climbing 14%, and tokenization asset ondo ONDO$0.5044 declined by 12%. Sector indices that spearheaded the prior upward momentum are now leading the pullback, with the DeFi Select Index (DFX) down 6.4% and off 7.3% over 24 hours, alongside the CoinDesk Computing Index (CPUS) registering a 3.2% loss and a 5.0% drop over the day.

The catalyst originated in the oil market rather than within the crypto sector, stemming from President Donald Trump turning down Tehran’s updated conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz—demands that featured the unfreezing of Iranian assets, the cancellation of petroleum sanctions, and the halting of the U.S. naval blockade surrounding Iranian terminals. Consequently, Brent crude bounced back above the $100 threshold to reach $100.83, reflecting a 3.2% daily increase and wiping out Friday’s decline beneath that marker.

Traditional financial instruments are experiencing simultaneous liquidations alongside crypto assets, with gold dropping 3.3% to $4,144, silver decreasing 5.1% to $61.00, and U.S. stock futures trading lower as S&P 500 contracts declined 0.44% while the Nasdaq 100 dropped 0.95%, whereas the U.S. dollar index ticked up 0.06% to 101.09.

Derivatives positioning

Market-wide: Overall trading volume expanded by 70% to hit $172 billion across 24 hours, while total open interest (OI) contracted by 3% down to $150 billion. Expanding volume accompanied by declining open interest indicates that existing market positions are being wound down rather than fresh bets being opened.
Taker flow: The 24-hour taker long-to-short metric registered at 46.9% versus 53.1% as of 09:50 UTC, giving aggressive sellers a slight advantage.
BTC OI drops further: Futures open interest has decreased to 650K BTC, marking the lowest level recorded since March as market participants continue steering clear of leverage. Funding rates remain negative across major trading platforms, indicating that remaining active positions maintain a bearish tilt.
ETH and SOL follow BTC’s lead: Ether open interest shrank to 12.85 million ETH, down from 13.95 million on July 1 and a late-May high above 15.65 million. This reduction transpired even though ETH advanced 68% starting July 1, signifying that spot accumulation drove the movement rather than borrowed leverage, with Solana (SOL) futures exhibiting an identical trend.
XRP OI rises: Open interest reached a four-week peak of 2.46 billion XRP early in the session before cooling off slightly to 2.37 billion.

Whale bias: Binance whale accounts, evaluated by their long versus short holdings, maintain a bullish stance on Bitcoin though down from the extreme optimism seen on Friday, have pivoted to a bearish outlook on Ether, and continue favoring Solana. Ripple (XRP) has returned to a bearish sentiment, albeit less pronounced than Friday’s extreme readings.

HBAR OI hits record high: Open interest climbed to an all-time high of 2.30 billion HBAR while the spot valuation climbed 48% within 24 hours, pointing to the entry of new long positions. Nevertheless, the 24-hour open-interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta is negative and annualized funding rates hover just above zero, implying that aggressive buyers are not driving the upward action and short sellers might be establishing positions against the upward trend.
Volatility slightly up: Volmex’s BVIV, representing the 30-day implied volatility gauge for Bitcoin, ticked up to 37.4% after rebounding off the sub-36% baseline tested during the previous week. This change is minimal, meaning traders still anticipate stable market conditions, with Ether’s EVIV displaying a comparable trend while Wall Street’s VIX advanced to 16 on Friday from beneath 14.
Mixed volume profile in options: On Deribit, the $84,000 bitcoin put option expiring on September 30 served as the most actively traded contract over the trailing 24 hours, with put options typically deployed to safeguard underlying assets against value depreciation, which in this context is bitcoin. For Ether, the $2,850 call option expiring on October 20 dominated activity, indicating underlying interest in upward price continuation.

Token talk

Hedera HBAR$0.1041 stands out as a clear exception, rising 13% since midnight and 14% over a 24-hour window to reach $0.11, making it the sole CoinDesk 100 asset to secure gains exceeding 3% on the day. The cryptocurrency has been undergoing consolidation following a rally from beneath $0.08 during the week of September 19, and Monday’s movement lacks any fresh catalyst, though The Hashgraph Group integrated its Hedera-driven IDTrust identity framework onto IBM’s cloud directory on September 23.
Friday’s top gainers have relinquished more value than they accumulated, with quant (QNT) dropping 16% to $240.59, the graph GRT$0.02971 shedding 12%, and fartcoin FARTCOIN$0.1792 dropping 12%, alongside AI agent token kite KITE$0.1447 falling 11% and modular data availability token Celestia (TIA) down 9.1%.
The decentralized finance sector is absorbing the heaviest impact of the market reversal, with uniswap (UNI) declining 7.9% to $8.91 and down 11% over 24 hours, lending platform token morpho MORPHO$2.5964 dropping 7.5% and 8.5%, and ondo falling 12% on the session, dragging the sector index down 6.4% after it gained 8.7% over the rolling day on Friday.
Bitcoin Cash BCH$313.21 continued unwinding its CME-spurred breakout, decreasing 7.7% to $306.69 and 10% across 24 hours, whereas sui SUI$1.1818 dropped 6.2% and solana (SOL) slid 2.9% to $118.41.
A select group of legacy layer-1 tokens managed to maintain their footing, with algorand ALGO$0.1263 advancing 2.3% and XDC Network XDC$0.03397 climbing 2.3%, alongside JST rising 1.3% and IOTA MIOTA$0.05592 ticking up 1.0%, with all four assets also recording gains over the 24-hour timeframe.
CoinMarketCap’s “altcoin season” gauge remains elevated at 65 out of 100, marking its highest reading in over three months in spite of the selloff observed on Monday morning.