Bitcoin touched $81,455 overnight Friday, its highest level since May 15, before pulling back to around $79,850. The move puts the $82,800 area — where price was rejected in May — back in focus as the key resistance level, while altcoins broadly softened and the Trump-branded memecoin TRUMP surged 24% on derivatives-driven momentum.
Bitcoin retests its May high
Bitcoin reached $81,455 on Friday, the first time it has touched that level since May 15, before easing back to trade around $79,850, down roughly 0.5% over 24 hours. In May, price was rejected at $82,800 and then slid to a bottom near $57,000, making that level the one to watch for a potential breakout this time.
Since the U.S. Treasury's bond buyback announcement on Aug. 19, bitcoin has gained roughly 26%. Gold added 0.2% and silver rose more than 2% on Friday, while Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 0.3%, extending a divergence that has held since the buyback announcement.
Altcoins consolidate as bitcoin dominance holds
Altcoins are broadly lower since midnight, with most tokens giving back between 2% and 3% as trader focus stays on bitcoin. The Altcoin Season index sits at 34/100, well within bitcoin-dominated territory.
Solana fell 2.6% since midnight to around $106, giving back part of an 18% weekly gain, while zcash slipped 2.4% but remains up roughly 41% over the past seven days. Monero bucked the trend, rising 2.2% to around $464 on top of a 12.8% weekly gain. Meanwhile, TRUMP surged 24% to around $2.80 despite no obvious news catalyst, with open interest jumping 57% over the past week to $188.72 million.
Derivatives show churn, not conviction
The crypto futures market has seen more churn than fresh directional positioning over the past day. Total open interest has held steady just above $140 billion, while trading volume rose nearly 10% to $222 billion, and the taker volume ratio has turned marginally bearish with shorts at 51% of the flow.
Bitcoin's 30-day implied-volatility index, BVIV, has fallen to 41%, extending its retreat from a recent high of 50%. The continued decline suggests options traders do not expect Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's Friday speech at Jackson Hole to trigger significant turbulence. On Deribit, calls dominate 24-hour volume rankings, with the $85,000 bitcoin call expiring Sept. 26 seeing the most activity.
Source: CoinDesk
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