Bitcoin climbed 0.5% to approximately $81,700 following midnight UTC, bouncing back from a trough near $81,000, while Asian equities stabilized subsequent to the tech sell-off on Thursday.
Alternative cryptocurrencies advanced more aggressively, with the CoinDesk 80 advancing 1.4%, tokenized meme assets increasing 2.9%, and the frog-themed asset pepe surging 13%.
Market participants are now turning their attention toward the upcoming Federal Reserve gathering scheduled for October 27-28.
Bitcoin grew 0.5% to reach roughly $81,700 from midnight UTC, trailing behind the broader altcoin recovery. Ether increased 0.9% while the CoinDesk 80 altcoin benchmark added 0.7%, accompanied by a 2.9% rise in the memecoin index.
This recovery trails Thursday’s technology-driven market decline, wherein the Nasdaq Composite index dropped 2.6% for its largest single-day contraction since June. Asian stock exchanges steadied as South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.3% and mainland China’s CSI 300 climbed 1.7%, whereas Japan’s Nikkei 225 retreated 0.25%.
Traders currently monitor the Federal Reserve meeting on October 27-28, with Brent crude remaining around $113 to sustain inflation concerns, alongside exchange-traded fund activity after U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs suffered $635 million in outflows on Thursday according to SoSoValue metrics, following more than $1 billion in incoming capital across the initial three days of the week.
Derivatives positioning
- Crypto futures trading cools: Volume contracted 19% over the course of 24 hours while liquidations fell 23%, coming a day after both metrics spiked. Open interest expanded 1% after dropping the prior day, and since bitcoin’s valuation showed little net change, participants are actively opening new positions rather than solely liquidating existing ones. The long versus short taker volume ratio leans marginally toward short positions at 51.6% versus 48.4%.
- OI-adjusted CVD points to bullish reset: Cumulative volume delta monitors whether active market transactions skew toward buys or sales. Yesterday, most digital assets finished the session below zero, with the weakest assets approaching -0.12%. Today, virtually all assets reside within 0.05% of the zero line, with the sole exception being XAUT positioned near -0.25%.
- BTC and ETH, majors see quiet rebuilding: Derivatives open interest expanded roughly 1% across both leading coins while spot prices remained largely static, signaling gentle accumulation of fresh exposure. Liquidations declined sharply, contracting by roughly two-thirds for bitcoin and one-third for ether. Bitcoin funding rates ticked up from 0.0041% to 0.0067%, reflecting slightly higher costs for long holders, whereas ether funding remained unchanged.
- BNB and SUI, funding flips back to positive: Yesterday, short traders were compensating long participants in BNB and SUI at rates of -0.0048% and -0.0036%, while DOGE held steady. Today, all three digital assets exhibit positive funding rates, mirroring an overall increase in funding across leading tokens. Because prices for all three assets advanced, bullish traders are presently covering the cost of leverage rather than bearish traders.
- De-risking in mZEC, SOL, XRP and DOGE continues: Open interest dropped across all four assets by margins exceeding what price depreciation alone would dictate, confirming genuine position closures. ZEC experienced the most pronounced contraction, with open interest sliding 8% alongside a 1.5% valuation decline. This represents a second straight session of aggressive capital withdrawal, signaling investor exit.
- New money keeps entering commodity perps: Open interest increased across gold, silver, and crude oil derivatives for a second consecutive day. Spot prices for precious metals declined while their funding rates remained positive, indicating that long positions are bearing the cost. Crude oil open interest grew in tandem with a 1.4% price appreciation, though negative funding rates indicate that short sellers are paying. The gold-backed token XAUT behaves differently, displaying the most negative open-interest-adjusted CVD among all assets, meaning aggressive market sell orders dictated price action.
- Monero’s funding spike has faded: Funding rates for XMR represented the most extreme readings on the heatmap earlier in the 24-hour cycle, but have since normalized. The previously highlighted leverage accumulation has now subsided.
- Bitcoin activity sits in upside calls and ether activity in puts: For bitcoin, the most heavily traded options contract was the November 27 $98,000 call, succeeded by the December 25 $88,000 call. Five out of the top six active contracts are call options situated above spot market prices, with the lone put contract being a $76,000 agreement expiring October 30. Regarding ether, put options occupy the leading two positions, spearheaded by the October 26 $2,200 put encompassing roughly 9,000 contracts, though volume metrics do not distinguish between buyer and seller initiations.
- 25-delta skew shows strong put bias in ether: Ether’s one-week put-call skew hovers near 13%, indicating that downside protection commands a significant premium over calls, a metric that has climbed since early October. Conversely, bitcoin’s one-week skew retreated to approximately 4% down from a mid-month peak of nearly 14%. Downside apprehension has diminished for bitcoin while intensifying for ether, corresponding with heavy put positioning in the latter asset.
Token talk
- Pepe advanced 14% to spearhead the CD100 index, marking its most substantial daily gain in a month. This upward movement pushes the Ethereum-based amphiboy-themed asset’s weekly performance to a 23% gain and monthly returns to 16%, driven forward without an obvious fundamental catalyst.
- Such robust outperformance separates it from the broader sector where floki, bonk, and shiba inu registered gains spanning between 3.3% and 4.9% today, yet maintain monthly losses reaching as high as 16%. Pepe’s 24-hour trading turnover hovered around $353 million, representing a 10% increase compared to the same timeframe yesterday.
- Base-layer assets polkadot and cosmos both appreciated by over 5%, extending their respective weekly surges past 6%. Even so, polkadot remains down 2.5% across October while cosmos records a 3.6% monthly gain.
- Decentralized finance tokens staged a recovery after driving Thursday’s market drawdown, with uniswap rising 3.5% toward $7.25 and ethena climbing 2.0% near 20 cents.
- The weakest monthly performers within the CD100 also rebounded, with doublezero gaining 2.5% and monad advancing 4.3%, despite retaining monthly contractions of 49% and 31% respectively.
- CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season metric rests at 58 out of 100, advancing from Monday’s trough of 54 out of 100 as favorable market sentiment persists within the altcoin segment while bitcoin consolidates in a narrow range.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/10/23/bitcoin-steadies-near-usd81-700-as-altcoins-rebound-pepe-climbs-13.
