Broad Altcoin Gains Gather Pace as Bitcoin Holds Near $84K

Altcoins continued their broad advance Friday as bitcoin remained largely stable around $84,000. Quant (QNT) jumped 39% over 24 hours, while gains were recorded across 93 of the 100 assets tracked by the CoinDesk 100.

Bitcoin was trading near $84,342, little changed since midnight UTC. The CoinDesk 80 index climbed 4.7%, compared with a 1.0% increase in the CoinDesk 5.

The latest move reflects a familiar pattern in crypto markets, where traders often rotate into higher-risk assets after bitcoin posts a strong rally and begins consolidating. Expensive funding for leveraged long positions can also contribute to that shift.

Bitcoin rose from below $63,000 in August to almost $87,000 on Tuesday before settling into a sideways range. As BTC cooled, altcoins picked up momentum. CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index rose to 56 from 45 a week ago and 38 a month ago, reaching its highest point in more than three months.

The CoinDesk Computing Index gained 9.5% over 24 hours, led by Chainlink (LINK), Internet Computer (ICP) and Bittensor (TAO). The DeFi Select Index rose 8.7%, with both sector indexes advancing more than three times the 2.5% gain in the CoinDesk blended benchmark.

Bitget Breach Does Little to Disrupt Rally

The market showed limited reaction to Bitget’s $351.6 million security breach. Attackers compromised part of the exchange’s backend wallet infrastructure and manipulated transaction data to activate the platform’s authorization process.

Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said private keys were not compromised and that the exchange’s $464 million User Protection Fund covers the reported loss. Withdrawals remain suspended while the security investigation continues.

The broader risk environment also improved. European equities opened sharply higher following reports that U.S. and Iranian negotiators were discussing a phased reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Brent crude fell below $100 to $98.94, while gold rose 0.26% to $4,287. The dollar index declined 0.11% to 101.14.

Derivatives Positioning Remains Relatively Stable

The 24-hour long-short taker volume ratio moved toward an even 50%, compared with 52% on the short side the previous day. Trading volume dropped 17% to $206 billion, while open interest rose 1.8% to $153 billion. Liquidations fell 63% to $228 million.

Lower volume alongside slightly higher OI suggests traders are keeping existing positions open rather than making aggressive adjustments. The decline in liquidations also indicates that forced selling remained limited.

Bitcoin futures open interest slipped below 700,000 BTC following a brief increase. Binance whale positioning, however, remained tilted toward longs, with the whale account long-short ratio at 1.33 and the whale position ratio at 1.87.

Futures OI for Ethereum, Solana and XRP was unchanged over 24 hours, showing little change in positioning across those markets.

Zcash attracted fresh derivatives activity as its price gained 7% and futures OI climbed 15.9%. Annualized funding was near 10%, while ZEC posted the strongest positive 24-hour OI-adjusted cumulative volume delta among major assets.

ZEC has gained nearly 300% this quarter. Rising OI indicates additional positions are being established, although the growing leverage could also increase the risk of a sharp reversal.

Chainlink futures OI rose 28%, compared with a 14% increase in price. The faster increase in OI points to fresh positioning behind the move.

ONDO futures open interest reached a record 1.07 billion tokens as its spot price climbed to its highest level since November 2025. The combination indicates increased participation alongside the price advance.

Thirty-day implied volatility for BTC and ETH continued falling toward yearly lows, suggesting options traders were not pricing a disorderly move.

More than $17 billion in BTC and ETH options expired on Deribit Friday with limited market impact. The most actively traded BTC strike was the $70,000 call, followed by the $90,000 call, while ETH’s most traded strike was the $2,800 call.

QNT Leads the Market

Quant traded at $98.93 after gaining 9.8% since midnight and 39% over 24 hours, making it the strongest CoinDesk 100 performer across both periods.

ONDO advanced 8.4% since midnight and 32% over 24 hours, while Lido DAO (LDO) gained 8.0% and 20%, respectively.

Computing-related tokens posted widespread gains, with all seven CoinDesk Computing Index constituents moving higher. LINK rose 3.7% since midnight and 12% over 24 hours, ICP gained 4.3% and 10%, and TAO added 2.2% and 5.4%. FET climbed 1.6% on the day and 18% over 24 hours.

The DeFi Select Index rose 8.7%, with ONDO, LDO and Ethena (ENA) among the stronger performers. ENA gained 10% over 24 hours despite falling 0.42% since midnight. Uniswap (UNI) was nearly flat, up 0.67% on the day and 0.66% over 24 hours.

Privacy-focused assets also extended their gains. Zcash rose 2.5% to $1,584.86, while Monero gained 1.0% to $571.43. ZEC remained roughly 16% above its level a week earlier and continued trading near record highs.

Raydium (RAY) was down 3.4%, Bonk (BONK) declined 2.7% and Litecoin (LTC) fell 1.6% to $70.78 after its halving-driven rally. All three remained higher over 24 hours except RAY.