Bitcoin Holds Near $81,700 as Pepe Leads Altcoin Rebound

Bitcoin Holds Firm Around $81,700 After Recent Dip

Bitcoin (BTCBTC-0.19%) has found its footing around $81,700 after dipping to a low near $81,000 earlier in the day. Over the past 24 hours, the world's leading cryptocurrency moved up by about 0.5%, quietly steadying itself after recent price swings.

While Bitcoin took a breather, altcoins picked up the pace. The CoinDesk 80 index gained 1.4%, Ether (ETHETH-0.15%) rose 0.9% to around $2,490.55, and memecoins jumped an average of 2.9%.

Past performance of digital assets is not a guarantee of future returns. You can check real-time market movements on Bitkub Market.

Pepe Surges 13% to Lead the Memecoin Rally

The standout performer in the crypto market today is Pepe (PEPE). The frog-themed memecoin surged between 13% and 14%, leading gains across the CoinDesk 100 index with its biggest single-day rise in over a month.

This sudden jump extends Pepe's weekly gains to 23% and its monthly gains to 16%. Market analysts pointed out that there was no single headline event driving this surge. Pepe's 24-hour trading volume reached around $353 million, about 10% higher than the previous day.

Other major memecoins also traded higher, though with more modest numbers. Floki (FLOKI), Bonk (BONK), and Shiba Inu (SHIB) posted daily gains between 3.3% and 4.9%. Despite today's uptick, these tokens remain down by as much as 16% over the past month.

Layer-1 and DeFi Tokens Join the Rebound

The positive momentum spread into major Layer-1 networks as well. Polkadot (DOT) and Cosmos (ATOM) both gained over 5% for the day, bringing their weekly advances above 6%. Even so, Polkadot remains down 2.5% for October, while Cosmos holds a 3.6% gain for the month.

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) tokens bounced back after taking a hit during Thursday's market pullback. Uniswap (UNI) gained 3.5% to reach roughly $7.25, while Ethena (ENA) rose 2.0% to trade around 20 cents.

Even the month's hardest-hit tokens enjoyed a brief pause in selling pressure. DoubleZero (2Z) rose 2.5% and Monad (MON) advanced 4.3%, though both remain down significantly on the monthly chart by 49% and 31% respectively.

Reflecting this shift in sentiment, CoinMarketCap's Altcoin Season indicator rose to 58 out of 100, up from 54 earlier in the week as traders rotated into alternative tokens.

Macro Context: Wall Street Sell-off, High Oil Prices, and ETF Flows

Crypto markets are continuing to react to global economic signals. On Thursday, heavy selling in technology shares dragged the Nasdaq Composite down 2.6%, making it the index's sharpest single-day decline since June.

Asian stock markets showed signs of stabilizing overnight. South Korea's Kospi gained 0.3%, and China's CSI 300 climbed 1.7%, while Japan's Nikkei 225 dipped slightly by 0.25%.

Traders are closely watching the Federal Reserve's upcoming policy meeting scheduled for October 27-28. At the same time, Brent crude oil prices hovering near $113 per barrel continue to keep inflation concerns at the top of investors' minds.

Institutional appetite via exchange-traded funds (ETFs) showed a sudden shift. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $635 million in net outflows on Thursday, according to SoSoValue data. This pulled back some of the momentum after seeing over $1 billion in net inflows during the first three days of the week.

Derivatives Market Breakdown: What Are Futures Traders Doing?

A look under the hood of the crypto futures market shows trading activity slowing down. Overall crypto futures volume dropped 19% over 24 hours, and total liquidations fell 23%.

Open Interest (OI)—which tracks the total number of active, unsettled futures contracts—edged up by 1%. Because Bitcoin's spot price remained mostly stable, this small bump suggests traders are actively adding new positions rather than simply closing old ones. The long/short ratio slightly favors short positions at 51.6% versus 48.4% longs.

Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD) Resets to Neutral

Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD) helps show whether market orders are leaning more toward aggressive buying or selling. Yesterday, most tokens ended the session in negative territory, with some dropping as low as -0.12%.

Today, nearly all major tokens have reset back near zero (within 0.05%), indicating a balanced market. Tether Gold (XAUTXAUT-0.96%) was the noticeable exception, sitting around -0.25%, which shows sell orders dominated for that specific token.

Funding Rates and De-risking Trends

Funding rates tell us which side of the trade is paying a fee to hold their position. For Bitcoin, open interest grew by 1% while liquidations dropped by two-thirds. Funding rates rose from 0.0041% to 0.0067%, showing long traders are paying slightly more to keep their bullish bets open. Ether's funding rate stayed flat.

In BNB and SUI, funding rates flipped from negative back to positive. After short traders paid longs yesterday, rising spot prices mean long traders are now paying shorts again. DOGEDOGE+0.78% experienced a similar shift.

Conversely, traders are stepping away from Zcash (ZEC), SolanaSOL-0.29%, XRP, and Dogecoin (DOGE). Zcash saw the most pronounced drop, with open interest falling 8% alongside a 1.5% price decline—marking two consecutive days of capital leaving the asset.

Commodities and Monero Activity

In commodity derivatives, open interest rose in gold, silver, and crude oil for a second straight day. Gold and silver prices fell while funding remained positive, meaning long traders are paying the funding fee.

Crude oil open interest grew alongside a 1.4% price rise, with negative funding rates indicating shorts are paying longs. Meanwhile, Monero's (XMR) earlier spike in funding rates faded back to normal, easing previous leverage build-ups.

Options Market Split: Bitcoin Looks Up, Ether Prepares Down

The options market displays two very different trader strategies for Bitcoin and Ether right now.

Bitcoin options traders are focusing on upside call options. Five of the top six most-traded Bitcoin options were calls above current market prices, led by the November 27 $98,000 call and the December 25 $88,000 call. The only top put option was a $76,000 contract expiring October 30.

Ether options show the opposite setup. Put options—which protect against price drops—held the top two trading positions, led by roughly 9,000 contracts for the October 26 $2,200 put.

This difference is visible in the 25-delta skew indicator. Ether's one-week skew sits near 13%, showing put options cost significantly more than calls due to downside demand. Meanwhile, Bitcoin's one-week skew dropped to 4% from its mid-month peak near 14%, showing downside worries for Bitcoin have lightened.

Market Takeaway and Risk Context

As Bitcoin holds near $81,700, altcoins like Pepe are seizing opportunities to rebound. However, macroeconomic uncertainty, changing interest rate expectations, and fluctuating ETF flows mean crypto markets can shift direction quickly.

Disclaimer: Digital asset prices are highly volatile and subject to market risks. Readers should monitor underlying market conditions carefully and consider their personal risk tolerance before making financial decisions.