Crypto Makers Stuck in Tight Ranges Amid Altcoin Surge” – that’s 85 characters. Or maybe combine some highlights. Wait, “Crypto majors stuck in tight range as altcoin rotation picks up steam” would be shorter. But the user said no explanations or extra tex

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Crypto majors stuck in tight range as altcoin rotation picks up steamMarkets

What to know:

  • AI tokens NEAR (+28.5%) and FET (+11.4%) led Friday’s altcoin action as speculative flows rotated out of privacy coins DASH, ZEC and XMR, which shed much of their early-week gains.
  • HYPE hit a record high after rallying ~60% since Tuesday, driven by heavy short liquidations and institutional demand following the launch of U.S. spot ETFs; altcoin season indicator climbed to 38/100.
  • Bitcoin‘s implied volatility continues to slide as options traders sell calls, while put activity is concentrated at $71,000 to $77,000 strikes on Deribit — reflecting a cautious, range-bound posture heading into the weekend.

Bitcoin and ether, the leading cryptocurrencies, have spent the last four days trading within a narrow range. Bitcoin has been fluctuating between $76,100 and $78,000 as the weekend approaches.

Things have been pretty calm in crypto lately, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been *some* movement. I’ve noticed a few altcoins getting a boost from speculation, and Friday it was all about AI. NEAR Protocol really jumped, up almost 29% in the last day, and Fetch.ai wasn’t far behind with a gain of over 11%. It’s good to see *something* exciting happen, even if it’s just a short-term pump.

On Friday, privacy-focused cryptocurrencies like DASH, ZEC, and XMR saw a significant drop in price, wiping out most of the gains they’d made earlier in the week. This suggests investors are shifting their money to different types of cryptocurrencies.

The price of Brent crude oil fell to $102 a barrel on Friday, a decrease from $112 earlier in the week. This drop is likely due to growing expectations of a possible agreement between Iran and the United States.

Stocks rose sharply after oil prices fell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a new record high on Friday, and the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 have both gained 3% and 1.7% respectively since Tuesday, indicating investors are once again comfortable taking on risk.

Derivatives positioning

  • Crypto futures market-wide volume rose modestly by 1% to $160 billion in the last 24 hours, while notional open interest (OI) remained stable near $128 billion. Liquidations declined sharply by 26% to $200 million. This setup reflects a calmer market with reduced forced liquidations, even as volume growth remains relatively muted.
  • Today’s standout token is Near Protocol’s NEAR, which has gained over 25%. With the price rise, OI in futures tied to the token has surged to a record high of 282.53 million tokens. The OI-adjusted 24-hour cumulative volume delta is positive, a sign of aggressive buying at market orders rather than passive limit orders. This validates the upswing in prices. And last but not least, funding rates remain mildly positive, suggesting healthy leverage conditions and no overheating.
  • Markets tied to TRX and LINK display a similar bullish profile, characterized by OI growth, positive CVDs and positive funding rates.
  • The bitcoin market offers little excitement, with OI steady in the recent 720K BTC to 750K BTC range. The same can be said for ether.
  • Both BTC and ETH‘s annualized 30-day implied volatility indices continue to slide. That’s a sign of relentless volatility selling via options, mostly call overwriting.
  • On Deribit, bitcoin puts at strikes ranging from $71,000 to $77,000 dominate the 24-hour volume rankings. Similar volume concentration is seen in ether puts. A put option offers protection against price losses in the underlying asset.

Token talk

  • CoinDesk’s DeFi Select Index (DFX) was up by 1.1% on Friday, outperforming the CoinDesk Smart Contract Platform Select Capped Index (SCPXC), up by just 0.3%, and the CoinDesk Memecoin Select Index (CDMEME) after it tumbled by 1%.
  • The altcoin market was generally a mixed bag on Friday; XRP, SOL and ETH all lost ground alongside the privacy coin sector while the likes of HYPE and ATOM continue to show relative strength, with the later posting a 5% gain since midnight UTC.
  • HYPE, the native token of perpetual exchange HyperLiquid, has been its own animal this week – rising to a barnstorming record high after surging by around 60% since Tuesday.
  • The move comes alongside heavy short interest and a wave of liquidations coupled with institutional participation following the launch of spot ETFs in the U.S. this month.
  • CoinMarketCap’s “altcoin season” indicator rose from 31/100 to 38/100 this week, buoyed by HYPE’s strong performance.

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2026-05-22 13:42