Prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum remained largely flat before the release of the U.S. inflation report

Signs of stabilization are emerging in crypto derivatives markets, where leverage has been largely washed out, funding rates have turned positive and institutional basis is edging higher — even as traders continue to hedge aggressively against near-term downside.

Bitcoin pushed toward $67,000 early Friday before easing back, but remained roughly 1% higher since midnight UTC. Ethereum posted a more modest gain. The broader CoinDesk 20 Index was up about 0.7%, reflecting limited overall movement.

The uptick follows weakness in Thursday’s U.S. session, when prices drifted back toward last week’s lows. Despite the bounce, bitcoin is still headed for a fourth straight weekly loss — its longest stretch of declines since mid-November. Lower volatility and a slowdown in trading activity have also weighed on volumes.

Market participants are now awaiting the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) release for directional cues. A hotter inflation reading could strengthen the dollar and push bond yields higher, potentially pressuring risk assets. A softer outcome, however, may support expectations of looser financial conditions and encourage renewed risk appetite.

Even so, a much stronger rally would be needed to lift bitcoin toward $85,000 — a threshold that Jean-David Péquignot, chief commercial officer at Deribit, has identified as critical to restoring the cryptocurrency’s long-term bullish structure.

Derivatives Update

• Open interest has fallen to $15.5 billion, suggesting excess leverage has been cleared from the system.
• Perpetual futures funding rates have moved from neutral to positive across major platforms, ranging between 0% and 8%. Institutional sentiment appears to be improving as the three-month annualized futures basis climbed above 3%, signaling firmer professional positioning.
• In options markets, call contracts now account for about 65% of activity, while the one-week 25-delta skew has eased to 17.9%. However, implied volatility remains in short-term backwardation, indicating traders are still paying a premium for immediate downside protection.
• Data from Coinglass shows $256 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours, with roughly 69% tied to long positions. Bitcoin led with $112 million in liquidations, followed by ether at $52 million and other tokens at $16 million.
• The liquidation heatmap on Binance points to $68,800 as a key level to watch in the event of further upside.

Token Watch

PUMP, the token associated with Solana-based memecoin launchpad Pump.fun, has risen more than 5% over the past day.

The platform recently introduced a feature enabling token communities to distribute fees directly via its mobile app, including integration with GitHub accounts. The update allows creators to receive automated payouts generated by community activity, with additional social features expected in future releases.

Under the new system, communities can allocate a portion of token-generated fees to support GitHub contributors, who must claim the funds through the app.

Pump.fun was a major force behind last year’s memecoin trading surge, when its monthly volume exceeded $11 billion. Activity has since cooled significantly, with volumes dropping to roughly $1 billion last month, according to data from DeFiLlama.