Starknet and Arbitrum climbed more than 17% as the 10-year Treasury yield dropped back below 5%, while 98 of the 100 CoinDesk 100 assets posted gains.

The crypto market’s recovery after the Federal Reserve’s rate hike broadened on Friday, with DeFi and layer-2 tokens becoming the main beneficiaries. Their outperformance marked a shift from Thursday, when privacy and perceived haven assets led the advance, signaling a renewed move toward risk-taking.

Bitcoin climbed above $78,000 during European trading hours, gaining 2.1% since midnight UTC and 1.9% over 24 hours. Even after the rebound, BTC remained roughly 5% below its Sept. 4 high of $82,284 following two weeks of range-bound trading.

The DeFi Select Index stood out, rising 8.3% since midnight UTC and 16% over the past 24 hours. Only two assets in the CoinDesk 100 were trading lower.

A friendlier macro backdrop helped support the move. The 10-year Treasury yield fell below 5%, while Brent crude declined beneath $103 after reaching $109 earlier in the week. The drop in oil prices reduced some of the inflation pressure that had emerged after the rate increase.

U.S. equity futures also pointed to stronger risk appetite. S&P 500 futures rose 0.3%, while Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.6%. Gold increased 1.1% and silver climbed 2.8%.

Futures Positioning Builds

The derivatives market showed signs of renewed participation. Aggregate crypto futures open interest expanded by nearly 5% to $141.2 billion, despite a 3% decline in daily trading volume to $95 billion.

The taker buy-sell ratio remained balanced, suggesting traders were rebuilding positions rather than aggressively chasing short-term price momentum.

Bitcoin futures open interest rose to 680,000 BTC from 670,000 BTC since midnight UTC as the cryptocurrency advanced. Higher OI alongside a rising price is commonly associated with an increase in long positions.

However, the increase was relatively small, and total OI remains well below the 800,000 BTC peak reached earlier this year, showing that overall leverage and positioning are still below previous highs.

Binance’s top-trader long-short accounts ratio fell to 1.52 from nearly 2 on Wednesday, although it remained above 1. Meanwhile, the long-short positions ratio stood at 2.36.

The figures indicate that the number of large traders holding long positions has declined, while those still positioned bullishly have increased their exposure.

Uniswap futures also saw substantial growth in open interest. UNI contracts reached 86.61 million tokens, up from 76.89 million a day earlier and close to a record high.

The increase in futures activity coincided with a 30% surge in UNI’s spot price, reflecting stronger demand for major DeFi tokens amid optimism over coordinated regulatory efforts by the SEC and CFTC.

Volatility Retreats

The 24-hour OI-adjusted cumulative volume delta was positive across most major tokens, with GRAM, SHIB, HBAR and BNB as notable exceptions. A positive reading indicates buyers are executing more aggressive market orders.

Bitcoin’s implied volatility also declined. With the Clarity Act vote and the Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan policy meetings now behind traders, the 30-day annualized BVIV index fell to 36%.

The reading is near the floor established in May, suggesting options markets are anticipating relatively subdued near-term volatility.

Deribit data showed BTC’s one-week put-call skew turning positive, indicating that calls were relatively more expensive than puts. One- and two-month skews continued to carry a slight put bias.

Ether’s one-week skew also pointed to bullish sentiment. However, overall 24-hour options activity remained mixed, with both bitcoin calls and puts among the most heavily traded contracts.

DeFi and Layer-2 Assets Outperform

Uniswap was a major contributor to the DeFi Select Index’s gains. UNI rose 13% since midnight UTC and 25% over 24 hours, while Ethena’s ENA gained 9.6% and Lido’s liquid-staking token increased 6.6%.

Layer-2 assets posted similarly strong advances. Starknet jumped 18% on the day and 21% over 24 hours, while Arbitrum gained 17% and 25%, respectively. Stacks rose 9.2%, and Optimism added 8.9%.

Starknet reached its highest level since June 19, while Arbitrum traded at 20.9 cents, its highest price since January.

Solana gained 4.5% to $106.14, but several tokens in its ecosystem moved more sharply. Raydium surged 16% to $1.71, while liquid-staking token Jito advanced only 1.6%.

The divergence suggests traders were targeting decentralized-exchange activity rather than broadly buying Solana ecosystem assets.

Zcash, which led Thursday’s rally, saw its momentum slow. ZEC traded at $1,490.10, up 1.6% on the day and 7.6% over 24 hours, meaning most of its recent gains came during Thursday’s session.

Dash fell 0.53% and World Liberty Financial’s WLFI declined 0.31%, making them the only two CoinDesk 100 constituents in negative territory.

CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index rose to 44 out of 100 from Tuesday’s low of 32. The increase suggests speculative interest is spreading more broadly across the crypto market.