Crypto markets remain under pressure ahead of key U.S. inflation data due Wednesday, with expectations that May CPI could show inflation running above 4%.

Risk-off sentiment is spreading across altcoins. Zcash (ZEC) and Hyperliquid’s HYPE token have both dropped more than 10% in the past 24 hours, while ADA, ONDO, and BCH are down over 4%. The CoinDesk 20 Index also declined about 3% over the same period.

Bitcoin (BTC) has fallen back below $61,500, giving up much of its weekend rebound that briefly pushed prices above $64,000 on some exchanges. It is also now trading below its 200-week simple moving average, a widely watched long-term technical indicator.

FxPro analyst Alex Kuptsikevich noted that, historically, extended trading near this level has often coincided with prolonged bear phases lasting many months.

Derivatives signal defensive positioning

Crypto futures data shows a mixed but cautious setup. Total futures volume rose 1.2% to $193 billion, while open interest slipped 1.5% to $102.27 billion. Liquidations surged 38% to $418 million, with long positions accounting for more than $300 million as prices slid toward $61,000.

Bitcoin futures open interest rose to 728,000 BTC despite the price decline, suggesting fresh short positioning is building as traders bet on further downside.

Negative funding rates and a negative volume delta reinforce the bearish tilt, indicating aggressive selling into bids rather than passive accumulation.

Solana futures open interest also climbed to 69.58 million tokens, close to recent highs, while funding and volume metrics remain negative—echoing broader market weakness.

Across major assets including ETH and XRP, funding rates remain negative, with XMR standing out as the only token showing mild positive flow.

Bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility rose to 51.21% from 45.8%, reflecting growing uncertainty ahead of CPI. Ether volatility has also ticked higher.

On Deribit, short-dated BTC and ETH puts continue to trade at a premium over calls, signaling persistent demand for downside protection. One-week implied volatility remains elevated relative to realized volatility, favoring option buyers.

A July options structure suggests traders are positioning for range-bound action, with limited conviction in either direction.

Token flow distortions and market signals

Uniswap V4’s total value locked appeared to surge more than 350% in a single day, driven by apparent inflows on BNB Chain. However, the spike was later traced to distorted data from the hacked Humanity Protocol H token, which was minted in unlimited supply and artificially inflated liquidity metrics.

Separately, Santiment said crypto markets are entering a historically attractive buy zone based on 30-day MVRV data. It shows recent buyers are underwater across major assets: bitcoin (-10%), ether (-12%), XRP (-8%), and cardano (-18%). The firm labels most of these as “fair buy” conditions, with cardano tagged as a “strong buy.”

In token-specific action, MORPHO rallied 12% after its onchain lending protocol raised $175 million in a major funding round led by Paradigm, a16z crypto, and Ribbit Capital, alongside participation from Apollo and VanEck. The raise valued the protocol at up to $2 billion, though the token later retraced some gains.