Bitcoin bounced back from the previous day’s declines to change hands at $84,170 on Tuesday, advancing 0.82% since midnight UTC and 1.4% over a 24-hour period, while 72 out of 100 CoinDesk 100 assets moved upward, pushing the index higher by 0.89% to 1,904.49.
This upward momentum persists despite macroeconomic pressures that have weighed on risk-on instruments for an entire week, including the 10-year Treasury yield resting at 5.234% after closing out Monday above 5.2%—levels not witnessed since 2007—alongside the 30-year yield at 5.549% after spiking past 5.56% on Monday, near highs characteristic of 2004.
United States equities retreated for a second straight session on Monday, with the Dow losing over 300 points while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.8% and 0.9% respectively, and futures displayed mixed directionality on Tuesday morning.
Decentralized finance is spearheading market performance for the second instance within a week, as the DeFi Select Index advanced 5.0% since midnight, spearheaded by lending utility token aave rising 11% to $149.48 and curve dao token climbing 5.2% to $0.3457. Meanwhile, the CoinDesk 80 improved by 2.0% compared to a 1.3% gain for the CoinDesk 5, although this hierarchy flips over a 24-hour timeframe where the CD5’s 1.7% outperforms the CD80’s 0.44%.
Privacy-focused coins stand apart as the most pronounced decliners, with zcash plunging 4.1% to $1,422.35, marking an 8.4% drop over 24 hours, and dash slipping 6.4% to $61.38, compounding a downward slide that has positioned zcash roughly 13% beneath its Friday valuation.
Brent crude softened by 0.85% to reach $97.92, remaining beneath the $100 threshold following Monday’s spike, whereas gold gained 0.68% to hit $4,140 and the dollar index strengthened 0.18% to 101.36.
Derivatives positioning
- Leverage keeps shrinking: Futures open interest rested at $149.36 billion at 09:45 UTC, remaining relatively flat compared to yesterday’s $149.36 billion valuation. Trading volume expanded 26% to $218 billion following the previous day’s 70% surge, while liquidations stayed level at $389 million. The 24-hour long-to-short volume proportion is currently balanced, contrasting with yesterday’s slight seller advantage of 46.9% to 53.1%.
- BTC bears lose their grip: Futures open interest retreated to 644K BTC from the previous day’s 650K, marking the lowest point since March 4. Nevertheless, funding rates have returned to positive territory after dipping into negative readings yesterday, and the 24-hour open-interest-adjusted CVD remains neutral. The previous bearish bias among lingering positions has diminished.
- Binance whales turn extremely bullish on BTC: Whale sentiment has strengthened compared to yesterday’s bullish outlook. The long-to-short metric sits at 1.88 for whale positions and 1.31 for whale accounts, versus 1.24 for retail participants. Any reading exceeding 1 indicates that long positions outnumber short ones.
- Altcoin leverage keeps draining: Open interest metrics for both ether and solana continue to trace a downward slope. Ripple reversed yesterday’s modest increase, which had brought open interest to a four-week peak of 2.46 billion tokens before subsiding to 2.37 billion.
- LINK draws fresh longs: 〗The token surged 14% over a 24-hour window, positioning itself among the top performers. Futures open interest climbed 4% to reach its highest level since August 22, indicating the entry of new long positions. Chainlink also ranks among the few assets displaying a positive 24-hour CVD, alongside Quant, Ethereum, and TRON. Funding rates hover around a modest 2% annualized, demonstrating demand for upside exposure without showing signs of overheating.
- ZEC sellers stay in control: The asset retreated for a third consecutive session alongside a declining futures open interest, implying that long traders are exiting their positions. Its 24-hour CVD registers as the most negative among major cryptocurrencies, pointing to aggressive selling activity.
- Volatility stays asleep: Implied volatility indices spanning 30 days for bitcoin and ether linger near year-to-date troughs following yesterday’s minor bounce, which had pushed the Bitcoin Volatility Index to 37.4%. Market participants continue to anticipate tranquil trading conditions.
- Options traders swap puts for calls: Bitcoin’s put-call skews across seven-day and one-month durations have flipped slightly negative, indicating that call options are once again commanding a premium. This represents a departure from yesterday, when an $84,000 put contract served as the most heavily traded instrument. Short-term volume favors calls situated at the $85,000, $90,000, and $95,000 strike prices. As for Ethereum, the $3,000 call option expiring on October 9 stands as the most active contract, replacing yesterday’s leading choice, which was the $2,850 call expiring October 20.
Token talk
- Aave is the standout performer trading at $166.55, advancing 11% since midnight and 13% across 24 hours, representing the highest growth among CoinDesk 20 members. This appreciation follows market speculation surrounding “Aavenomics 3.0,” with project co-founder Stani Kulechov hinting that the platform might incorporate a token burning mechanism as part of the forthcoming network upgrade.
- Quant resumed its upward trajectory, appreciating 17% to $269.58 and 13% over 24 hours, arriving three sessions after rallying 39% on Friday and subsequently retracing 16% on Monday, resulting in a round trip that leaves the asset higher than its initial baseline.
- Curve dao token appreciated 5.2% since midnight alongside a 22% surge over 24 hours to reach $0.40, marking the largest rolling gain within the index, implying that the bulk of the price action transpired during Monday’s U.S. trading hours rather than early Tuesday.
- Internet computer gained 8.3% to hit $3.39 and 14% over a 24-hour span, while avalanche rose 7.0% to $11.35 and 8.4%, with both ecosystems regaining territory surrendered during Monday’s market-wide correction.
- Hedera surrendered a portion of its Monday gains, sliding 3.2% to $0.12 while maintaining a 9.5% profit over 24 hours, whereas litecoin ticked down 0.51% to $68.86 and 2.3% across the rolling day as excitement surrounding its halving event subsides.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/09/29/aave-leads-defi-higher-as-crypto-shrugs-off-surging-treasury-yields.
