Bitcoin settles near $65,000 as oil's march toward $100 fails to spook the market

Bitcoin's price rose toward $65,000, reaching as high as $65,760 since midnight UTC, while ether increased by up to 1.6%, as the cryptocurrency market showed resilience despite a surge in Brent crude oil prices. Brent crude futures hit $97.66 per barrel, the highest since mid-May, mainly due to ongoing tensions related to the Iran conflict. Traditionally, such oil price spikes have negatively affected risk assets, including crypto, but digital assets maintained broad gains in this instance. Other notable performers included altcoins such as Hyperliquid (HYPE), which rose 2.4%, and AI-related tokens like FET and NEAR, which posted gains of over 1%. Conversely, several tokens like WLFI, AVAX, HBAR, and SUI declined by between 4% and 10% within 24 hours, indicating some underlying weakness despite the overall positive market tone.

The derivatives market displayed increased churn with a volume rise of 11% to $165 billion over 24 hours, while open interest remained stable around $116 billion, suggesting activity was driven more by market trading volume than by new positions. Specifically, dogecoin (DOGE) futures open interest neared 16 billion tokens, the highest since October, even as DOGE's spot price dropped to its lowest since November 2023. This combination points to bearish sentiment and traders betting on further declines through short positions. Ether futures open interest also rose to 14.53 million ETH, the highest since June 7, yet mixed indicators showed bullish funding rates but bearish 24-hour cumulative volume delta, implying selling pressure at market prices.

Volatility measures provided some positive signals for bulls, with Bitcoin's 30-day implied volatility index (BVIV) falling by 3% to 39%, ending a five-day rise streak. Ether's equivalent volatility index also declined. In the bitcoin options market on Deribit, there was a sizable cluster of roughly $5 billion in open interest focusing on $70,000 to $72,000 call options, indicating a strong bias toward upward price bets. This aligns with volume rankings where call options at strikes of $77,000 and $80,000 also featured prominently, further reflecting bullish positioning among traders.

While some tokens showed strength and signs of recovery, such as Hyperliquid and AI-related assets, others like WLFI experienced volatility patterns with rapid reversals due to low liquidity, and Lighter (LIT) continued a nearly 20% pullback following earlier large rallies. The mixed performance across altcoins alongside steady bitcoin and ether gains suggests cautious optimism in the crypto market as it closes out the week. This resilience in crypto, despite volatile macroeconomic factors like rising oil prices, was highlighted as an encouraging signal for market bulls by the source.