The biggest tokens traded sluggishly as traders awaited Wednesday's Federal Reserve meeting. Solana's sol (SOL) stood out with near-record open interest in the CME-listed futures.
Privacy-focused monero (XMR) rose 6% over 24 hours, looking past the massive blockchain reorg that raised centralization concerns. Other gainers were IMX, up nearly 13%, AVAX, adding 6%, and HASH, which traded 4% higher.
Key market signals painted a mixed picture, warning of an uptick in volatility after the Fed decision.
“On the surface, the ETF MVRV has climbed to 2.29, and liquidity prints show strong institutional bids,” Timothy Misir, head of research, BRN, said in an email referring to the market value to realized value ratio.
“Below the surface, spot cumulative volume delta weakened even as momentum indicators turned overbought. That mismatch momentum without broad participation is the classic set-up for a headline-driven retracement or a sharp follow-through if the Fed meets market hopes.”
Derivatives Positioning
By Omkar Godbole
- Most major cryptocurrencies, including BTC and ETH, continued to experience capital outflows from futures, leading to a decline in open interest.
- AVAX stands out with OI rising over 14% as the token's market cap looks to climb above $13 billion for the first time since Feb. 2.
- Solana OI has reached a record high of over 70 million SOL, with positive funding rates pointing to bullish capital inflows.
- On the CME, OI in solana futures pulled back to 7.63 million SOL from the record 8.12 million SOL on Sept. 12. Still, the three-month annualized premium holds well above 15%, offering an attractive yield for carry traders.
- BTC CME OI continues to improve, but overall positioning remains light relative to ether and SOL futures.
- On Deribit, the bias for BTC and ETH put options continues to ease across all tenors as traders anticipate Fed rate cuts. SOL and XRP options remain biased bullish.
- On OTC network Paradigm, block flows featured BTC calendar spreads and shorting of call and put options.
Token Talk
By Oliver Knight
- As the crypto market stays within a tight range after a brief peak and trough on Monday, one token is running its own race: IMX is up 15% in the past 24 hours with daily trading volume doubling to $144 million.
- The rise lifted IMX, the native token of Web3 gaming platform Immutable, to a five-month high.
- Bullish sentiment around Immutable can be attributed to an SEC probe that was dropped earlier this year and general optimism around the gaming sector. Gaming is estimated to reach $200 billion in revenue this year with further growth forecast in 2026 alongside the release of Rockstar Gaming's Grand Theft Auto 6.
- Immutable is well positioned to capitalize on that growth after teaming up with gaming giant Ubisoft on the next iteration of Might and Magic Fates in April.
- Blockchain technology could have a key role to play in gaming if trends shift toward in-game ownership of items, which could see the implementation of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) within a game that could then be collected or sold on for crypto tokens.
- IMX is currently trading at $0.736 having broken out of a key level of resistance. It will likely come back to test $0.70 as support before potentially moving higher, provided trading volume can sustain at these levels.