Altcoins Rally as Bitcoin Holds Near $84,000

link" href="/prices/bitcoin">Bitcoin traded around $84,342, essentially flat since midnight UTC, after climbing from below $63,000 in August to a peak near $87,000 earlier this week. The pause in Bitcoin’s advance has coincided with a broad rally across most altcoins.

Broad Market Gains

93 of the 100 CoinDesk 100 constituents posted higher prices over the past 24 hours. The CoinDesk 80 index rose 4.7% against the CoinDesk 5’s 1.0% gain. The altcoin season index climbed to 56, its strongest reading in more than three months.

Top Performers

• Quant (QNT) surged 39% in 24 hours, up 9.8% since midnight, reaching $98.93.
• Chainlink (LINK) rose 12% in 24 hours, trading at $14.05.
• Internet Computer (ICP) gained 10% in 24 hours.
• Bittensor (TAO) climbed 5.4% in 24 hours.
• Ondo (ONDO) increased 32% over 24 hours, up 8.4% since midnight, at $0.5547.
• Lido DAO (LDO) rose 20% over 24 hours, up 8.0% since midnight, at $0.4510.
• Ethena (ENA) gained 10% over the day despite a slight dip since midnight.
• Zcash (ZEC) added 2.5% to $1,584.86, while Monero (XMR) rose 1.0% to $571.43.

Sector Indices

The CoinDesk Computing Index jumped 9.5% and the DeFi Select Index rose 8.7%, both far outpacing the blended benchmark’s 2.5% gain.

Derivatives and Funding

Trading volume fell 17% to $206 billion, while open interest edged up 1.8% to $153 billion. Bitcoin futures open interest slipped below 700,000 BTC. Binance whale accounts remain bullish, with a long‑short ratio of 1.33.

Market Context

Despite a major hack at Bitget that resulted in a $351.6 million loss, the exchange said a $464 million protection fund covers the shortfall and withdrawals are paused pending review. Macro conditions improved, with European equities opening higher and Brent crude trading below $100.