Bitcoin is testing the $72,000 level again, but repeated rejections have triggered short positioning, pushing crypto futures open interest to a one-week high of $112 billion.
The rally coincides with gains in U.S. equities and follows oil’s retreat below $100 per barrel after former President Donald Trump floated a peace plan for Iran-a claim Tehran dismissed.
Despite geopolitical tensions, implied volatility in Bitcoin and Ether continues to decline, suggesting fading risk premiums. Ether’s open interest hit a multimonth high of 14.55 million ETH, backed by positive funding rates and strong buying pressure.
DeFi and AI tokens are leading altcoin performance: LDO, ETHFI, TAO, and FET rose 2.5% to 4.9%. The CoinDesk Computing Select Index (CPUS), dominated by LINK, gained 1.9%-outpacing the bitcoin-heavy CD20.
Meanwhile, gold extends its worst losing streak in over a century, down 27% from January highs. Bitcoin’s resilience has lifted the BTC-to-gold ratio by roughly 30% since Middle East conflict escalated.
