Altcoins outperformed Bitcoin as Celestia (TIA) soared 16%, Injective (INJ) gained 7.7% and LayerZero (ZRO) advanced 7.3%. Bitcoin remained near $82,100, with Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh providing no clear indication of the central bank’s plans for interest rates.

Bitcoin was trading at approximately $82,100 on Friday, little changed since midnight UTC after bouncing from a brief decline to around $81,600 at 03:30 UTC. The recovery kept BTC well above $80,000 following Thursday’s temporary dip beneath that level, its first such move in a month.

The altcoin market posted modest gains, with Ether increasing 0.5% to roughly $2,450 and the CoinDesk 80 Index (CD80) rising 0.46%. The Bitcoin-dominated CoinDesk 5 Index (CD5) remained virtually unchanged.

Celestia recorded the largest gain among major tokens, followed by Injective and LayerZero. Approximately 80% of the cryptocurrencies in the CoinDesk 100 Index (CD100) advanced, pushing CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index to 60 from 50 on the previous day.

Asian equities also recovered after Thursday’s steep losses. South Korea’s Kospi finished 2.05% higher, while Japan’s Nikkei rose 1.39%. S&P 500 futures remained largely flat after the benchmark index ended a three-day losing streak.

Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh avoided offering clues about the central bank’s upcoming policy decision during an appearance at the IMF and World Bank meetings in Bangkok. CME FedWatch data showed that the implied probability of an October rate hike declined to approximately 15%, down from around 30%. U.S. Treasury yields remained broadly steady.

Derivatives Market Activity

Futures trading slows as liquidations fall. Cryptocurrency futures volume declined 20% over 24 hours to approximately $200 billion, while open interest increased 2% to $142.21 billion. Liquidations dropped to $311 million from nearly $1 billion the previous day. The combination of fewer forced closures and rising open interest suggests that selling pressure has eased while traders continue to establish positions.

Aggressive selling becomes less pronounced. The 24-hour taker long/short volume ratio returned to a more balanced level after short-side trades accounted for 52% of activity a day earlier. The shift indicates that immediate selling pressure has moderated.

Bitcoin, Ether and Solana recover without a strong increase in long positions. Bitcoin’s dollar-denominated futures open interest rose just 0.3% as its spot price increased 1%, suggesting the number of outstanding contracts edged lower. Ether and Solana displayed similar patterns, with open interest rising less than their spot prices. This suggests the rebound may have been driven primarily by short sellers closing positions rather than a significant influx of new bullish bets.

XRP traders reduce futures exposure during the rally. XRP’s open interest dropped 1% even as its spot price advanced 1.4%, indicating that contracts were being closed while prices moved higher. The token’s 24-hour open-interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta (CVD), which measures aggressive market buying against selling, also remained negative. This points to limited confirmation of the recovery from derivatives traders.

Zcash draws additional bullish positions. ZEC futures open interest climbed 14%, outpacing its 11.5% price gain and suggesting traders added contracts during the rally. Zcash also recorded the strongest positive open-interest-adjusted CVD among major cryptocurrencies, indicating that aggressive buying was leading the move. Tron (TRX), Tether Gold (XAUT) and Ether also registered positive readings, while Bitcoin was neutral and Uniswap (UNI), Hedera (HBAR) and XRP posted negative readings.

Funding rates point to moderate bullish sentiment. Annualized funding rates for major perpetual futures contracts ranged from 5% to 10%. The figures show a preference for long positions, but remain within ordinary ranges, suggesting leveraged bullish positioning has not become excessively crowded.

Implied volatility continues to ease. Bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility index, BVIV, fell to 38% after reaching 42% the previous day. Ether’s implied volatility also declined. The movement suggests options traders are anticipating a calmer market, consistent with the relatively moderate funding rates.

Bitcoin traders retain downside protection as Ether options favor upside. Decentralized derivatives platform Derive highlighted a large Bitcoin put spread executed earlier in the week that targeted a potential fall toward $78,000. On Deribit, the $80,000 put was the most actively traded option, reflecting continued demand for protection against further declines. Ether options showed a more optimistic tilt, with the $2,600 call recording the highest trading activity over the previous 24 hours.

Token Performance

Celestia reaches a new high for 2026. TIA, the native token of the modular data-availability network Celestia, surged 16% to approximately $0.68, making it the strongest performer in the CoinDesk 100. The token has climbed around 59% over the past four weeks, reaching its highest price of the year.

The advance coincided with Celestia Fibre recording a throughput benchmark of 3.07 terabits per second and the introduction of a proposed economic upgrade called the Sustainable Blob Economy.

Injective advances as turnover rises. INJ, the token associated with the finance-focused layer-1 blockchain, gained 7.7% to around $9.19. Although no single catalyst clearly explained the move, three U.S. exchange-traded fund applications linked to the token remain pending. CoinMarketCap data showed that INJ trading volume reached $289.7 million over 24 hours, up 128% from the preceding day.

LayerZero extends its upward move. ZRO, the token associated with the cross-chain messaging protocol, rose 7.3% to roughly $2.24. The gains extended a rally connected with its ATLAS trading infrastructure, which directs most fees toward purchasing and burning ZRO tokens. Ether.fi’s ETHFI token, associated with liquid restaking, also climbed 4.2%.

Starknet posts the steepest loss. STRK fell 9.6% to approximately $0.08, making it the weakest performer in the CoinDesk 100 after gaining 11% on Thursday. Stacks (STX), a Bitcoin-related layer token associated with staking, declined 4.2%.

Other major cryptocurrencies finish mixed. Solana advanced 1.2% to approximately $107, XRP increased 0.5%, and Monero (XMR) gained 2.9% to around $565. BNB traded with little overall change.