Bitcoin recovered on Thursday as weakness in the U.S. dollar gave a boost to crypto, equities and precious metals. PONS and Arbitrum continued their advances, extending their rallies into a third straight session.

BTC traded near $77,890 in Thursday morning trading, up 0.76% from midnight UTC. The gain helped offset part of Wednesday’s decline, although Bitcoin was still 2.89% below its level from seven days earlier.

The softer dollar also supported traditional markets. Gold climbed 0.97% to approximately $4,434, while silver rose 0.88% to $65.94 after both metals declined Wednesday. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.2%, and S&P 500 futures increased 0.15%. The dollar index slipped 0.32% to 99.259.

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs remained under pressure, recording $9.3 million in net outflows for a second consecutive day. Still, the latest outflow was small compared with Tuesday’s $239 million withdrawal.

Altcoins were broadly positive, with the altcoin season index standing at 35/100. Lighter (LIT) and Arbitrum (ARB) were among the strongest performers. ARB continued to receive support from revenue generated through its partnership with Robinhood Chain.

Futures Positioning Shifts

Crypto derivatives markets showed a more neutral tone than a day earlier. The 24-hour long-short taker volume ratio moved into balance after previously favoring bears. Total open interest remained around $136 billion, while combined trading volume fell 7% to $187 billion.

Arbitrum was particularly strong in the derivatives market. ARB open interest jumped nearly 10% to 1.58 billion tokens, setting a record, according to Coinglass. The token was also the best-performing cryptocurrency among the top 100 over the previous 24 hours.

Other indicators backed the bullish move, with both the 24-hour OI-adjusted cumulative volume delta and annualized perpetual funding rates remaining positive.

LIT’s rally was less convincing from a derivatives perspective. The token reached a record spot price of $2.85 and ranked as the second-best performer over 24 hours, but futures open interest continued to decline. The gap suggests spot demand is driving the move, while the lack of derivatives participation could leave LIT exposed to a rapid reversal.

BTC and ETH futures also showed relatively light positioning, with open interest close to recent multi-week lows.

Across major-token futures, buying pressure remained evident. Positive OI-adjusted CVD readings for Bitcoin and ether indicate that more long positions are being opened through market orders rather than passive limit orders, generally viewed as a bullish sign.

Short exposure in TRX also eased. Its annualized perpetual funding rate improved to about -23%, compared with -80% earlier in the week. The bias remains negative, but the reduction in short positioning lowers the risk of a sudden squeeze from overcrowded bearish bets.

Volatility indicators remained subdued for Bitcoin and ether. Their 30-day implied volatility readings pointed to relatively limited concern in the options market, providing a calmer backdrop for spot trading.

Bitcoin options continued to show demand for upside exposure. Deribit data showed $82,000 and $84,000 calls among the most actively traded contracts over the past 24 hours. However, Bitcoin’s seven-day skew has declined from recent highs, while ether options activity remained mixed.

PONS Surges More Than 300% Weekly

PONS was the standout altcoin on Thursday, gaining 30.85% in 24 hours to reach $0.50. Its weekly advance expanded to 318.72%.

The launchpad is the biggest revenue generator on Robinhood Chain and uses roughly 80% of its protocol revenue to buy back and burn PONS tokens. That mechanism gives the token a more direct connection to platform revenue than many other assets associated with the Robinhood Chain theme.

ARB added another 16.77% over 24 hours, reaching around $0.13 and extending its winning streak to three sessions. Its market capitalization surpassed $916 million, while daily trading volume hit $486 million.

The volume was more than nine times its average of about $50 million per day last week.

Uniswap’s UNI went in the opposite direction, falling 8.62% to $5.75 and recording the largest decline among large-cap tokens. Despite the pullback, UNI remained up 29.11% over seven days after previously ranking among the strongest DeFi performers in the rally.

Monero continued its upward move, rising 4.30% since midnight to roughly $515. Pump.fun added 4.96% to $0.004296, while LIT increased another 3.13% to $3.92.

TAO from Bittensor gained 2.33% to $222.31, although it remained well below its price of about $247 one week earlier.