Bitcoin Reclaims Momentum Toward $77,300 After Zcash Leverage Reset

Bitcoin advanced 0.7% since midnight UTC to around $77,200, while 68 of the CoinDesk 100 cryptocurrencies moved higher. Despite the recovery, the index was still down 1.4% over the previous 24 hours.

BTC was trading near $77,300, according to CoinDesk Indices data, representing a 0.7% gain since midnight but a 0.87% decline over 24 hours. Bitcoin remained roughly 6% below last week’s peak of $82,284.

Ether climbed 1.6% on Friday and was also higher over the 24-hour period, making it one of the few large-cap cryptocurrencies to recover from its overnight decline. Solana gained just under 1% since midnight.

The CoinDesk 100 saw a sharp improvement in market breadth compared with Thursday’s 86-14 split in favor of declining assets. On Friday, 68 constituents posted gains. The index itself rose 0.5%, although it remained 1.6% lower over 24 hours, with 80 constituents still showing losses over that timeframe.

The memecoin index was the strongest-performing sector, gaining 0.73% since midnight UTC. Speculative cryptocurrencies again recorded the largest moves, but this time the momentum was positive.

Traditional markets also moved higher. S&P 500 futures increased 0.48%, Nasdaq futures gained 0.56%, gold rose 0.74% and silver advanced 0.92%, while the Dollar Index was unchanged. Traders were awaiting the U.S. August consumer price report at 8:30 a.m. ET, the final major economic release before the Federal Reserve’s Sept. 15-16 interest-rate meeting.

Derivatives Positioning

Total crypto futures open interest declined to $59.5 billion from $62.4 billion on Wednesday, while 24-hour trading volume reached $94.2 billion, according to Coinalyze. Liquidations climbed to $256.3 million over the past day, compared with $142.3 million in the middle of the week.

Bitcoin open interest remained near $25 billion, rising 0.12% over 24 hours and accounting for 42.1% of the market total. Coinalyze data shows BTC open interest peaked around $26.8 billion on Sept. 4 before gradually declining, suggesting that traders have been scaling back positions over the past week rather than exiting through one large liquidation event.

Zcash experienced the most significant leverage unwind. Its open interest dropped 20.1% to $1.4 billion as ZEC declined 9% to $1,112.10. Liquidations reached $17.2 million, while funding fell into negative territory at -0.0016%, making Zcash the only major token with a negative funding rate.

Bitcoin accounted for $60.3 million of total liquidations, while Ether contributed $46.5 million. Combined, the two assets represented more than 40% of all liquidations.

Funding rates across the market remained positive but subdued. Bitcoin’s aggregate funding rate was 0.0036%, compared with a predicted rate of 0.0026%. The aggregate long/short account ratio stood at 1.114, with longs making up 52.67% and shorts 47.29%, indicating relatively balanced positioning.

Open interest in both Hyperliquid’s HYPE token and XRP fell about 5% over 24 hours, reaching $2.5 billion and $1.2 billion, respectively.

Token Performance

Theta Network led the CoinDesk 100, rising 11% since midnight UTC to $0.19 and gaining 6.9% over 24 hours.

Raydium, the Solana-based decentralized exchange token, jumped 10% on the day to $1.60 and was 18% higher over 24 hours. It marked Raydium’s third consecutive session as the index’s top performer after gains of 5.8% and 8.5% earlier in the week.

Lighter, the token tied to a perpetual futures exchange, rose 5.8% to $4.54, recovering some of the 15% loss recorded during the previous 24 hours.

Zcash gained 3.4% since midnight to $1,116.06 but remained 8.8% lower over 24 hours, marking the steepest daily decline among tokens with market capitalizations above $10 billion.

Morpho advanced 3.6% to $2.34 and was 2.3% higher over 24 hours, making it one of the few mid-cap cryptocurrencies to post gains across both periods.

CoinMarketCap’s “Altcoin Season” indicator stood at 38/100, remaining in neutral territory after reaching 51/100 on Tuesday.