Layer‑2 and DeFi tokens drive broad crypto rally as Treasury yields dip

Bitcoin climbed past $78,000 in European trading, gaining 2.1% since midnight UTC. The rally was led by layer‑2 and decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens, while a softer macro backdrop helped ease inflation‑related concerns.

Key market moves

• Bitcoin (BTC) up 2.1% to $78,131.
• Starknet (STRK) rose 18%.
• Arbitrum (ARB) rose 17%.
• Uniswap (UNI) up 13%.
• DeFi Select Index (DFX) up 8.3% since midnight and 16% over 24 hours.

Macro backdrop

The 10‑year U.S. Treasury yield fell back below 5%, and Brent crude slipped under $103, reducing pressure from the post‑Fed rate‑hike inflation narrative. Equity index futures also posted modest gains, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.3% and 0.6% respectively.

Futures and open interest

• Cumulative crypto futures open interest expanded ~5% to $141.2 billion.
• Daily futures volume dipped ~3% to $95 billion.
• Bitcoin futures open interest rose slightly to 680 K BTC.
• Uniswap (UNI) futures open interest jumped to 86.6 million tokens, near an all‑time high.

Trader sentiment

• Binance’s top‑trader long‑short ratio eased to 1.52 but remained bullish.
• Overall long‑short positions ratio stayed elevated at 2.36, indicating strong institutional conviction.

Other notable tokens

• Lido DAO (LDO) up 6.6%.
• Ethena (ENA) up 9.6%.
• Stacks (STX) up 9.2%.
• Optimism (OP) up 8.9%.
• Solana (SOL) up 4.5%; Raydium (RAY) up 16%.

Volatility and options

Bitcoin’s 30‑day implied volatility index fell to 36%, the lowest level since May. One‑week BTC and ETH put‑call skews turned positive, suggesting a short‑term bullish bias in options markets.