Crypto Market Weakens as Bitcoin Breaks $82K and DeFi Tokens Slide

Bitcoin fell below $82,000 on Thursday as renewed doubts about AI investment weighed on global markets, sending cryptocurrencies lower alongside Asian equities. BTC dropped as much as 2.9% to approximately $81,600, while the CoinDesk 80 index lost 3.5% and decentralized finance tokens recorded the steepest declines.

The leading cryptocurrency posted its largest drop in two weeks after mixed earnings reports from Tesla and Meta Platforms reignited concerns over spending on artificial intelligence. The uncertainty triggered losses across Asian stock markets and reduced demand for riskier assets.

China’s CSI 300 declined 2%, bringing its losses from the June peak to 20% and pushing the benchmark into bear-market territory. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell more than 3%, South Korea’s Kospi dropped 3.5%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 2.7%. U.S. equity futures also weakened, with Nasdaq 100 futures down 1.32% and S&P 500 futures losing 0.66%.

Altcoins underperformed Bitcoin during the sell-off. The CoinDesk 80 (CD80) fell 3.2%, compared with a 2.5% decline in the CoinDesk 5 (CD5). Ether (ETH) lost 2.6% to trade near $2,400, while the DeFi sector index (DFX) plunged 5.6%.

The downturn came despite more than $1 billion flowing into U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs during the first three trading days of the week, according to SoSoValue. Solana’s Alpenglow upgrade also went live overnight, but SOL declined 2.4% to around $104. Market participants were additionally awaiting the latest U.S. initial jobless claims data.

Crypto Derivatives Show Traders Reducing Risk

Crypto derivatives trading volume rose 19% to $226.6 billion, while open interest decreased 2.46% to $141.8 billion. Liquidations jumped 52% to $431.1 million, indicating that traders were unwinding positions amid the decline rather than making substantial new commitments. Long and short liquidations were relatively balanced.

Bitcoin futures volume increased 36%, and Ether futures volume climbed 27%. However, open interest declined roughly in line with prices, suggesting that falling token values accounted for much of the decrease in dollar-denominated open interest. Funding rates remained slightly positive, indicating that neither bullish nor bearish positioning was especially crowded.

Position closures were more pronounced among several altcoins. Zcash (ZEC) open interest fell 6.99% as its price declined 2.34%. Near Protocol (NEAR) recorded an 8.83% drop, while Uniswap (UNI) open interest contracted 10.17%. Chainlink (LINK) and Sui (SUI) also showed signs of traders scaling back exposure.

Commodity Derivatives Draw Fresh Positions

While crypto open interest declined, commodity-linked derivatives attracted additional activity. Gold futures open interest increased 12% even as prices slipped. Tokenized gold Tether Gold (XAUT) and silver contracts also saw open interest rise 10% and 6.8%, respectively.

Growing open interest alongside falling prices may indicate that traders are opening short positions, although it can also reflect buyers entering during a pullback. Crude oil futures open interest advanced 6.29%, while funding turned negative at -0.0126%, suggesting that short sellers were paying to maintain their positions.

Order-flow data pointed to a broader change in sentiment. Market buying had dominated most tokens around 24 hours earlier, but selling orders took over by Thursday morning across major cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ether.

Monero’s Elevated Funding Signals Potential Liquidation Risk

Monero (XMR) was an exception to the wider market decline, with its funding rate reaching approximately 70% on an annualized basis. The elevated rate suggests that leveraged long traders were paying a substantial premium to hold their positions, leaving them vulnerable to liquidations if prices move lower.

Monero futures open interest exceeded $300 million this week, approaching the record level recorded in January, according to SoSoValue.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s BVIV and Ether’s EVIV implied-volatility gauges remained close to their 2026 lows, suggesting options traders were not pricing in unusually large price swings.

On Deribit, Bitcoin call options with strike prices of $85,000 and $86,000 expiring on Oct. 30 were among the most actively traded contracts over the previous 24 hours. However, short-term options skews continued to favor puts, indicating that downside protection remained more expensive than comparable upside bets. Ether options showed a similar pattern, suggesting traders were pursuing potential rallies while keeping protective hedges in place.

DeFi Tokens Lead the Altcoin Sell-Off

Privacy coins moved in opposite directions. Monero gained 4.9% to approximately $651, making it one of only five assets in the CoinDesk 100 (CD100) to rise since midnight UTC. Zcash, meanwhile, fell 4.8% to around $1,252.

Monero has gained roughly 19% over the past month, with futures open interest exceeding $300 million this week.

DeFi tokens suffered some of the market’s largest losses. Curve (CRV) plunged 8.2% to approximately $0.37, although it remained up around 4% for the week. Ethena (ENA) dropped 7.2%, extending its decline to roughly 25% from its late-September peak.

Uniswap (UNI) lost 5%, leaving it down approximately 20% in October despite recording record fee revenue in September, according to Token Terminal.

Other altcoins also weakened. Celestia (TIA) fell 3.7%, taking its weekly decline to around 9% and reducing its monthly gain to approximately 31%. The token is approaching an unlock of 5.58 million TIA scheduled for Oct. 31. LayerZero (ZRO) slipped 4.2%, while Worldcoin (WLD), the iris-scanning identity token, dropped 7.3%.

The Sandbox (SAND) declined 5.1%, and Starknet (STRK) fell 6.1%. SAND had previously rallied after South Korean exchanges Upbit, Bithumb and Coinone lifted trading cautions on the token. STRK had gained after its network indicated that it was exploring a quantum-resistant Layer 1 approach.

Pump.fun (PUMP), the token associated with Solana’s memecoin launchpad, lost 6% and remained down roughly 19% for the month.

The latest sell-off highlights how concerns about AI spending and weakness in traditional markets are affecting crypto sentiment. Despite strong Bitcoin ETF inflows earlier in the week, falling derivatives open interest and sharp DeFi losses point to growing caution among traders.