Bitcoin continued to trade above $79,000 on Thursday as U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs extended their streak of daily net inflows to eight sessions, while most leading altcoins posted modest declines.

BTC briefly moved above $80,000, gaining more than 1% since midnight UTC. Traders are still absorbing the impact of last week’s major rally, but ETF demand remains strong. Spot Bitcoin ETFs have attracted about $2.8 billion across the past eight trading days, the longest such streak since April, according to SoSoValue.

The rally gained momentum after the U.S. Treasury announced plans to double its purchases of longer-term bonds. That decision helped Bitcoin break out of a six-week trading range and contributed to more than $3 billion in short liquidations. It also provided a boost to broader demand for assets such as Bitcoin and gold.

Futures Positioning Remains Controlled

Crypto derivatives activity increased over the past day, with futures volume rising 6% and open interest climbing 3%. The long-short taker ratio stood at 51.3%, pointing to a modest advantage for aggressive buyers.

However, Bitcoin’s move above $80,000 has not triggered a comparable surge in futures positioning. Open interest remains around 700,000 BTC, indicating that traders have largely avoided adding significant leverage. This could limit the potential for liquidation cascades and allow spot-market demand to remain the main force behind the advance.

Ether futures open interest increased to 13.53 million ETH, up from 13.10 million over the previous 24 hours. The level is still well below the 15.68 million ETH peak reached in May.

Solana is seeing a more noticeable increase in derivatives participation. SOL open interest climbed 5% to 67.96 million SOL, the highest level since July 9. The move coincides with SOL holding above $100, while positive cumulative volume delta suggests traders are actively taking long positions at market prices.

Open interest also increased for XRP, GRAM, CRO and SHIB, while ZEC registered a decline.

Most major cryptocurrencies continue to show positive open-interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta, signaling continued buying pressure. Perpetual funding rates remain positive but below 10%, suggesting bullish positioning has not yet reached extreme levels.

Bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility index, BVIV, rose from 42% to 46%, indicating greater demand for options and derivatives designed to protect against price swings.

Deribit data also points to institutional demand for longer-dated put options as traders hedge against downside risk, even as shorter-term market participants continue to favor bullish call positions.

Bitcoin calls are dominating recent options activity, especially contracts with strikes between $70,000 and $85,000. Higher-strike calls are seeing greater interest than contracts below the current spot price.

Ether options are showing a similar call-heavy bias, although the $2,150 put expiring Sept. 25 remains the most actively traded contract.

Altcoin Performance Splits

Bittensor’s TAO was among the top performers, rising 5.3% to around $247. The token has rebounded sharply from its August low near $185 and is now up roughly 18% over the past week.

Morpho gained about 2.7% to $2.60, lifting its seven-day increase to approximately 19%. The rise in volume suggests investors continue to show interest in DeFi-related assets.

Ethena’s ENA added around 2.5% to $0.151, extending the recovery that followed its 61% jump last week. Even after those gains, the token remains far below its previous peak following a multimonth decline of more than 90%.

Zcash moved lower, falling roughly 4.1% to $783 and surrendering part of its recent gains. ZEC is still up about 41% over seven days after its strong performance during last week’s short squeeze.

Meanwhile, CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index declined to 38/100 from 51/100 a week earlier, reflecting renewed investor focus on Bitcoin after its breakout to monthly highs.