Bitcoin opened the week under pressure as the altcoin rally that dominated the weekend began to cool. BTC fell roughly 1.1% from midnight UTC, while Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.3%.

Bitcoin was trading around $79,300 after declining 1.3% since midnight UTC. The cryptocurrency remained locked in a narrow range throughout the weekend after failing to break above $81,400.

The pullback came as U.S. stock futures moved higher, extending the divergence between crypto and equities seen last week. Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.3% from midnight UTC, while U.S. markets were closed Monday for the Labor Day holiday.

Altcoins had supplied most of the weekend’s momentum but are now giving back part of those gains. Bittensor (TAO), Kaspa (KAS), Internet Computer (ICP) and Celestia (TIA) each gained more than 12% over the past 24 hours, although most of those increases occurred before midnight UTC. Since then, TAO has added 0.4%, Chainlink (LINK) has risen 1% and NEAR Protocol (NEAR) has slipped 1.5%.

Derivatives Point to Caution

Futures positioning has become more bearish. Sellers accounted for 51.6% of taker volume, reversing the bullish bias recorded Friday. The shift may reflect the weekend escalation in tensions between the U.S. and Iran, combined with renewed fears over a possible Federal Reserve rate increase.

Bitcoin futures are also seeing capital leave the market. Open interest has declined to 670,000 BTC from 709,000 BTC on Friday, marking the lowest level since March 23, according to CoinGlass. Annualized perpetual funding rates are nearing zero, erasing the bullish bias seen when rates were running between 8% and 10%.

Ether and Solana derivatives markets are showing similar signs of weakening positioning.

XRP futures open interest has fallen to 2.29 billion tokens, the lowest since Aug. 7 and well below the mid-August peak of 2.78 billion. The decline in positioning suggests capital is being withdrawn, leaving XRP caught in a choppy $1.35-$1.45 range.

Some smaller tokens are moving against the broader trend. WLD open interest increased 11% as its spot price climbed 13%, a combination generally considered a confirmation of upward momentum. WLD also posted the strongest 24-hour OI-adjusted cumulative volume delta among smaller tokens, indicating that buyers were more aggressive and favored market orders over passive limit orders.

CVD signals among major cryptocurrencies are split. LINK, TRX, CC, SUI and ZEC are recording positive readings, while BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL, NEAR, XMR and ADA remain in negative territory.

Volatility expectations remain subdued. Thirty-day implied-volatility gauges for both bitcoin and ether are hovering near recent lows, suggesting options traders continue to expect relatively calm conditions.

Bitcoin and ether options are showing different positioning. On Deribit, the $78,000 and $80,000 BTC puts expiring Sept. 25 were the two most heavily traded contracts over the previous 24 hours, while calls occupied three of the other five top positions. Puts are generally used to hedge against downside risk. In ether, calls dominated the most-active contracts.

Token Movers

Bittensor led large-cap tokens with a 13% 24-hour gain to $266 on $568 million in trading volume. The rally has weakened since midnight UTC, however, with TAO up only 0.4%. The token remains 16.4% higher over the past seven days.

Jupiter (JUP) recorded the largest daily decline, falling 9% to $0.2514 without an identifiable catalyst. The Solana-based DEX aggregator token has remained under pressure since breaking below the $0.33 support level last November.

Kaspa jumped 12.75% over 24 hours and 24.8% over the week to 3.418 cents. But trading volume of just $17.6 million compared with a $947 million market cap makes the rally appear relatively thin.

The privacy-token sector was mixed. Dash (DASH) dropped 5.3% since midnight to $67.56, although it remains up 63% for the week. Zcash (ZEC) declined 1.74% to $1,206, while Monero (XMR) was little changed.

Arbitrum (ARB) lost more than 10% over 24 hours, falling to 17.17 cents after nearly doubling during the previous week. That made it the biggest daily decliner among liquid mid-cap tokens.

Chainlink was among the few major tokens to maintain positive momentum. LINK gained 1% since midnight UTC to $13.37 and is up 18.6% over seven days.