Smaller altcoins are outperforming the broader cryptocurrency market as bitcoin, ether and other major tokens continue to move sideways without a decisive breakout.

Bitway’s BTW token is leading the advance, jumping 25% over the past 24 hours and extending its gain over the last 30 days to 170%.

BTW is the native asset of Bitway, a bitcoin-compatible layer-1 blockchain built around proof-of-stake consensus and decentralized finance (DeFi) infrastructure.

The token has also gained visibility across social media since Binance Wallet ended its “Booster Season 5” campaign on Oct. 2. The promotion rewarded deposits and may have encouraged additional retail engagement with BTW.

Other smaller cryptocurrencies are seeing similar momentum. Filecoin’s FIL advanced 12% in 24 hours, while LayerZero’s ZRO rose 10%. Both have gained 50% or more over the past four weeks. Midnight’s NIGHT increased another 8% over the same 24-hour period.

SKY, VVV and DASH, meanwhile, were the three biggest decliners among the 100 largest tokens by market capitalization.

BTC Remains Stuck Near $85K

Bitcoin continues to lack a clear direction. BTC was trading at around $85,900 when this was written after earlier dipping close to $85,000.

The quoted market data put bitcoin at $86,199.35 and ether at $2,712.86.

Alex Kuptsikevich, chief market analyst at TheFxPro, said bitcoin could face a faster decline if it loses key support levels.

“A break below $84K would signal a victory for the bears, and a break below the recent local lows at $83K would confirm this with even greater certainty. In this scenario, the leading cryptocurrency could fall to $80K fairly quickly,” he said.

Derivatives Activity Stabilizes

Bitcoin’s futures market is showing signs of reduced pressure. Open interest remained almost unchanged at $21.9 billion, compared with $22.0 billion previously.

Funding rates have eased slightly and now sit broadly between 0% and 5% annualized across venues. Previously, funding had been in the 4% to 10% range.

The three-month annualized basis also remained stable at 5% to 6%. Overall, positioning appears to have settled following Friday’s buildup, with leveraged longs still present but less aggressive funding conditions.

Options positioning continues to lean toward calls. The 24-hour put/call volume ratio stood at 62/38 in favor of calls, while the one-week 25-delta skew was still negative at around -2%.

The at-the-money term structure remained in contango, with front-end implied volatility around 24% to 25% and rising toward roughly 39% by late 2027.

According to CoinGlass, crypto markets recorded $163 million in liquidations over 24 hours. Long positions accounted for 63% of that amount, while shorts represented 27%.

Bitcoin recorded $51 million in liquidations, followed by other cryptocurrencies at $21 million and ETH at $19 million. The Binance liquidation heatmap identified $87,150 as a key level to monitor during any upside move in BTC.

Privacy Coins and NEAR Stand Out

Privacy-focused cryptocurrencies were among the day’s stronger performers. Monero (XMR) rose 1.9% to $557, while Zcash (ZEC) gained 2.5% and climbed back above $1,350.

Demand for anonymous layer-1 assets has remained resilient despite shifts in macroeconomic sentiment.

NEAR Protocol was another strong performer, rising 4.5% in 24 hours to $5.25 as buyers returned following last week’s sharp market-wide selloff.

Rain Protocol’s RAIN token was among the weakest, falling 5.6%. The decline came as selling pressure returned following recent supply emissions and broader profit-taking in speculative low-cap altcoins.

Major DeFi tokens were comparatively quiet. Uniswap (UNI) fell 1.4% to $8.89, while Chainlink (LINK) slipped 1.2% to $14.

Sui (SUI) also retreated 3.2% over 24 hours to trade near $1.20 as the layer-1 token continued to consolidate after several volatile sessions.

For now, market leadership remains concentrated in smaller tokens. Bitcoin has yet to provide a clear directional signal, leaving altcoins to capture much of the attention while BTC continues to hover around the $85,000 area.