Key facts
- Bitcoin has recovered to trade at $62,800 after dipping below $58,000 on July 1.
- Ether has also recovered, trading at $1,760 after a low of $1,550.
- Lighter (LIT) has seen significant gains, rising over 50% in a week, with its decentralized exchange processing $40 billion in 30-day volume.
- CoinMarketCap's Altcoin Season indicator reached its highest level in three months at 52/100.
- Mixed signals persist, with positive funding rates countered by aggressive selling indicated by negative cumulative volume delta.
Bitcoin has staged a recovery, trading at $62,800 after a sharp dip below $58,000 on July 1 that had fueled concerns of a potential slide toward $50,000. Ether has mirrored this recovery, trading at $1,760 after bottoming out around $1,550 last week.
The recent price action for the two largest cryptocurrencies saw a spike higher at Sunday's futures open, but they have since relinquished approximately 1% of those gains. This divergence contrasts with traditional markets, where Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 futures have seen gains of 1% and 0.5% respectively, following the long weekend.
The altcoin market presents a mixed picture. Lighter (LIT) continues its strong performance, up over 50% in the past week, driven by its decentralized derivatives exchange which has accumulated $40 billion in 30-day trading volume. However, other altcoins such as MORPHO and ADA are currently nursing losses of around 4% in the past 24 hours.
Derivatives markets show steady open interest in bitcoin, ether, solana, and XRP over the past 24 hours. Litecoin (LTC) has seen a notable increase in open interest, reaching 7.14 million tokens, the highest since May 12. While positive funding rates suggest bullish sentiment, a negative 24-hour cumulative volume delta indicates that sellers have been more aggressive. Open interest in Lighter's (LIT) token is also at one-month highs, supported by tokenomics overhauls.
Implied volatility indices for bitcoin (BVIV) and ether (EVIV) remain under pressure, reflecting expectations of calmer market conditions, often associated with price upswings. Despite this, BTC and ETH puts continue to trade at a premium to calls on Deribit, signaling lingering downside concerns, although this gap has narrowed. Trading volumes show mixed signals, with both the $60K put and $70K call strikes for BTC being actively traded.
Lighter's (LIT) rally has continued, with a 5% increase since midnight UTC on Monday, bringing its 24-hour gain to 13.5%. This momentum is fueled by traders seeking speculative altcoin bets. PYTH also saw a strong start to the week, up 6%. CoinMarketCap's Altcoin Season indicator has risen to 52/100, the highest in three months, suggesting a return of optimism in the altcoin sector. However, this indicator lags due to underperformance in some segments, with JITO, BEAT, and STABLE each losing between 5% and 13% over the past week.