Bitcoin climbed 0.7% from midnight UTC to roughly $77,200, with 68 CoinDesk 100 assets recording gains. However, the broader index remained down 1.4% over the previous 24 hours.

BTC traded near $77,300, according to CoinDesk Indices data, marking a 0.7% increase since midnight while remaining 0.87% lower on the day. Bitcoin was still about 6% below its $82,284 high reached last week.

Ether gained 1.6% on Friday and remained higher over the past 24 hours, making it one of the few major cryptocurrencies to recover its overnight losses. Solana also advanced, adding just under 1% since midnight.

The CoinDesk 100 showed a notable improvement in market breadth compared with Thursday’s 86-14 split favoring decliners. On Friday, 68 constituents gained. The index rose 0.5%, although it was still 1.6% lower over 24 hours, with 80 assets remaining in the red during that period.

Memecoins posted the strongest sector gains, with the memecoin index increasing 0.73% since midnight UTC. Speculative assets again recorded the biggest moves, although this time the momentum was to the upside.

Traditional markets also traded higher. S&P 500 futures advanced 0.48%, Nasdaq futures rose 0.56%, gold gained 0.74% and silver increased 0.92%, while the Dollar Index was unchanged. Investors were awaiting the U.S. August consumer price report at 8:30 a.m. ET, the last major economic release ahead of the Federal Reserve’s Sept. 15-16 FOMC meeting.

Derivatives Positioning

Total open interest in crypto futures declined to $59.5 billion from $62.4 billion on Wednesday, while 24-hour trading volume reached $94.2 billion, according to Coinalyze. Liquidations increased to $256.3 million over the past 24 hours from $142.3 million in the middle of the week.

Bitcoin open interest was largely unchanged at $25 billion, up 0.12% over 24 hours and representing 42.1% of the total market. Coinalyze data shows BTC open interest reached a peak of about $26.8 billion on Sept. 4 before steadily declining, indicating that traders have been reducing positions over the past week rather than through a single major liquidation event.

Zcash recorded the largest leverage reduction. Its open interest fell 20.1% to $1.4 billion as ZEC dropped 9% to $1,112.10. Liquidations totaled $17.2 million, while funding turned negative at -0.0016%, making Zcash the only major token with a negative funding rate.

Bitcoin accounted for $60.3 million in liquidations, followed by $46.5 million for Ether. Together, the two assets made up more than 40% of total liquidations.

Funding rates remained positive but relatively low. Bitcoin’s aggregate funding rate stood at 0.0036%, while the predicted rate was 0.0026%. The aggregate long/short account ratio was 1.114, with longs representing 52.67% and shorts 47.29%, indicating fairly balanced positioning.

Open interest for Hyperliquid’s HYPE token and XRP each declined by about 5% over 24 hours, reaching $2.5 billion and $1.2 billion, respectively.

Token Performance

Theta Network led the CoinDesk 100, gaining 11% since midnight UTC to $0.19 and rising 6.9% over 24 hours.

Raydium, the Solana-based decentralized exchange token, jumped 10% during the day to $1.60 and was 18% higher over 24 hours. It was the third consecutive session in which Raydium topped the index, following earlier weekly gains of 5.8% and 8.5%.

Lighter, the token associated with a perpetuals exchange, advanced 5.8% to $4.54 after losing 15% during the previous 24-hour period.

Zcash recovered 3.4% since midnight to $1,116.06 but remained down 8.8% over 24 hours, giving it the largest daily decline among cryptocurrencies with market capitalizations above $10 billion.

Morpho rose 3.6% to $2.34 and gained 2.3% over 24 hours, making it one of the few mid-cap tokens to remain positive across both periods.

CoinMarketCap’s “Altcoin Season” indicator stood at 38/100, remaining in neutral territory after rising to 51/100 on Tuesday.