Crypto bulls on firmer footing as US rate-hike risk recedes

The crypto market is ending the week in a healthier position than where it started, with bitcoin BTC$61,903.64 trading at $61,600 after having risen by 6.5% from Tuesday's almost two-year low of $57,750.

Still, the largest cryptocurrency's gains on Friday were muted in comparison with Thursday's 2.6% advance, which benefited from weak U.S. job data that lowered expectations for a Federal Reserve interest-rate increase.

The interest-rate outlook echoed for a second day as the U.S. entered a long weekend with stock markets closed. Ether (ETH) rose for a third straight day to add 11.5% since Tuesday and 2.6% on Friday alone. Other altcoins also advanced, with ADA$0.1683, zcash (ZEC) and dash (DASH) all gaining between 2.2% and 3.1%.

Still, the broader market structure remains bearish across the majority of crypto tokens following a succession of lower highs and lower lows. For bitcoin to reverse the downtrend, it needs to trade back above $67,000 and then take out $81,000, which was the local high in May.

Derivatives positioning

Ether replaced bitcoin as the biggest token for 24-hour liquidations. A total of $417 million worth of crypto futures bets were liquidated in 24 hours, of which $160.80 million are from the ether market. BTC, a distant second, notched $97 million. This shows just how bearish positioning on ether was.

Ether futures' open interest (OI) still stood at 14.31 million, the most since June 10, with annualized funding rates of nearly 10% and the highest 24-hour cumulative volume delta (CVD) among majors. The combination points to growing demand for bullish exposure in the market, a sign traders are anticipating continued price gains.

OI in DOGE futures tallied 14.13 billion tokens, the highest since May 16. The number has been growing since June 28, a sign of renewed demand for leverage. The DOGE situation is similar to ether's bullish picture.

While ETH and DOGE have led OI growth over 24 hours, futures tied to HBAR and ZEC have seen the opposite. HBAR has the most negative 24-hour CVD among majors, a sign bears are becoming more aggressive in shorting at market orders than passive limit orders.

Most tokens have positive CVD, a sign of bulls' leadership in the market.

Both bitcoin and ether 30-day implied volatility indexes continue to slide, reversing the June pop, signaling market calm and potential for continued bullish price action.

On Deribit, the most traded BTC options of 24 hours are calls at strikes ranging from $60,000 to $70,000. Call options represent a bullish bet on the market. Ether options show a similar bullish mood, with the $2,500 call seeing the most activity.

Block flows featured a large BTC long call condor, a strategy betting on a range play between $66,000 and $68,000 till July 17.

Token talk

Uniswap (UNI) led gains in altcoins following Thursday's announcement confirming that it will be the primary automated market maker (AMM) for the Robinhood layer-2 blockchain.

UNI is up by more than 11% in the past 24 hours with daily trading volume doubling to $320 million, still reaping the benefits of its tie-up with Robinhood announced July 1.

AI tokens FET, RENDER and TAO also demonstrated positive signs on Friday, rising by between 1.5% and 2.3% since midnight UTC after weeks of sell pressure.

CoinMarketCap's "Altcoin Season" indicator is at 46/100, still firmly in the neutral zone it has occupied for the past month as the market awaits a return to risk-on sentiment.

Solana (SOL) is leading the rally among crypto majors. It has now surged by more than 17% over the past week, trading at $80 after dropping to as low as $68 the week before.