Bitcoin Pauses at Multi-Week High as Altcoins Gain Momentum – 17/9/2025

Bitcoin (BTC) briefly reached its highest level since Aug. 22, climbing to $117,300 on Wednesday before retreating to around $116,400. Market attention remains focused on the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision at 18:00 UTC and the accompanying press conference, where a 25-basis-point rate cut is widely expected.

The early surge coincided with the filling of a notable “CME gap,” the difference between where bitcoin futures close on Friday and open on Sunday. With this gap now addressed, BTC may consolidate above key support at $110,000, potentially encouraging capital to flow into altcoins.

According to CoinMarketCap, bitcoin dominance has dropped to 57%—its lowest since January—signaling increased market interest in speculative altcoin trades amid low BTC volatility.

Derivatives Positioning
BTC futures open interest has risen to $32 billion over the past week. Meanwhile, the three-month annualized basis has compressed to roughly 6–7% across Binance, OKX, and Deribit, limiting carry trade profitability. This suggests rising market activity but weakening directional conviction, particularly among bullish traders.

Options data present mixed signals: the BTC Implied Volatility Term Structure shows an upward-sloping curve, indicating expectations of higher long-term volatility, while the 25-delta skew suggests a slight short-term bearish bias as traders pay a premium for puts. Yet, 24-hour put-call volume shows more calls than puts, indicating recent bullish positioning.

Funding rates across major perpetual swap venues have also started to pick up, with BTC annualized funding at 17%, reflecting growing bullish sentiment if trends continue.

Altcoins Capitalize on BTC Range-Bound Trading
Bitcoin has struggled to gain upward momentum, hovering around $116,000 over the past 24 hours. In contrast, several altcoins have posted notable gains, pushing BTC dominance to an eight-month low of 57%. The average crypto token RSI sits at 45.47, suggesting many altcoins are approaching oversold conditions and could extend their upside.

Historically, BTC dominance has fallen to 33% in 2017 and 40% in 2021, indicating that altcoins still have room to rally. Much of the next move will depend on BTC testing record highs near $124,000. A breakout on significant volume could rotate capital back into bitcoin, with some analysts, including Eric Trump, projecting prices as high as $175,000 by year-end.