Bitcoin climbed to $78,280 on Monday even as an AI-driven selloff dragged down Nasdaq futures, South Korea's Kospi and gold. Crypto and oil were the only major asset classes trading higher, with 94 of the 100 CoinDesk 100 constituents in the green. Derivatives data point to steady, non-leveraged buying rather than a short squeeze.
Bitcoin added as much as 1.9% since midnight UTC to reach $78,280, making crypto one of only two major asset classes trading higher on Monday. Oil also climbed. Bitcoin remains 4.8% below this month's $82,284 high, consolidating the move that took it from $64,000 in August.
Ether and XRP join the advance
Ether rose 2.1% to $2,513.76 and XRP gained 3.3%, with all but six of the CoinDesk 100 constituents higher on the day — the broadest advance in two weeks.
AI selloff and an oil rally move the rest of the market
Global AI stocks sold off after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei used a weekend essay to argue that AI companies should slow the pace of development of their most capable models on safety grounds, a position other technology figures publicly backed. Nasdaq 100 index futures dropped 1.65% and S&P 500 futures fell 0.7%, while gold slipped 0.8% and silver 1.7%. Crude, meanwhile, rose almost 4% after Saudi Arabia shut a pipeline that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz, extending a rally that took U.S. crude above $100 last week for the first time since May.
Positioning points to a grind higher, not a squeeze
Aggregate open interest stands at $59.7 billion on $62.7 billion of 24-hour volume, with $127.8 million liquidated over the past day — half of Friday's total. Bitcoin open interest rose 2.07% to $24.8 billion while ether's increased 2.97% to $14.8 billion, and the long/short accounts ratio stands at 1.15. That points to steady buying rather than a short squeeze.
Source: CoinDesk
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