While Bitcoin traded sideways around $82,000, gains spread across altcoins, with Celestia leading the way with a 16% rise.
According to CoinDesk market data dated October 16, Bitcoin fell to around $81,600 in the morning before recovering to about $82,100. Since midnight UTC, or 03:00 TRT, the price has remained largely flat, while approximately 80% of the assets in the CoinDesk 100 were in positive territory.
The altcoin-heavy CoinDesk 80 rose 0.46%, while the Bitcoin-heavy CoinDesk 5 was flat. CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index also climbed to 60 from 50 the previous day.
Which altcoins led the rally?
In morning trading, Celestia (TIA) led gains in the CoinDesk 100, rising 16% to around $0.68. The token’s gains over the past four weeks also reached approximately 59%. The rally coincided with Celestia Fibre reaching 3.07 terabits per second in a data-transfer test and the proposal of an economic update called “Sustainable Blob Economy.”
Injective (INJ) rose 7.7% to around $9.19. With three U.S. exchange-traded fund applications linked to the token awaiting a decision, 24-hour trading volume climbed 128% to $289.7 million.
LayerZero (ZRO) gained 7.3% to around $2.24. Another development being tracked was the project’s ATLAS trading infrastructure directing most fees toward token purchases and burns. Ethereum, meanwhile, was up about 0.5% at around $2,450.
Not every altcoin joined the rally. Starknet (STRK) fell 9.6% to around $0.08 after gaining 11% the previous day, while Stacks (STX) dropped 4.2%.
Liquidations fell, but new positions did not rise at the same pace for every coin
Crypto futures trading volume over the past 24 hours fell 20% to $200 billion. In contrast, the dollar value of open interest rose 2% to $142.21 billion. Liquidations also declined to $311 million from approximately $1 billion the previous day.
Over the same 24-hour period, Bitcoin’s price rose 1%, while the dollar value of open interest increased by just 0.3%. Open interest value in Ethereum and Solana also did not rise as much as their prices. The analysis linked this pattern to short positions being closed, rather than a strong influx of new long positions.
Zcash (ZEC) stood out: Its price rose 11.5%, while the dollar value of open interest increased 14%. Buyers’ greater dominance in market-order trading also supported the view that new positions accompanied ZEC’s rally.
This picture shows that there was no single cause behind the widespread altcoin rally: Short covering played a role for some assets, while new positions and project-specific developments stood out for others.
Not investment advice.