From CoinDesk · By Oliver Knight, Omkar Godbole
Smaller tokens are outperforming, with the CoinDesk 80 up around 3% over 24 hours against 1.2% for the CoinDesk 5, as bitcoin trades below $83,500.
CoinDesk research shows bitcoin and ether order books have rebuilt since the Oct. 10, 2025 flash crash, while altcoin liquidity has continued to thin.
U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs recorded $681 million of net outflows last week, the most since June, ahead of Wednesday’s U.S. CPI data.
Small tokens are outpacing the major cryptocurrencies on Monday, with the CoinDesk 80 up around 3% over the past 24 hours, more than double the 1.2% gain in the CoinDesk 5.
Bitcoin BTC$84,155.39 is trading below $83,500, after hitting a high above $84,000 on Sunday, while ether ETH$2,554.00 has added around 2.5% to trade at $2,560.
The gains are coming from the thinnest part of the market. A year on from the Oct. 10, 2025 flash crash, order-book depth for bitcoin and ether has recovered to pre-crash levels in dollar terms, while altcoin liquidity has continued to erode, according to CoinDesk research.
“Market makers have returned to majors,” Joshua de Vos, research lead at CoinDesk said in Saturday’s report.
Institutional money is heading the other way, with U.S.-listed spot bitcoin ETFs recording $681 million of net outflows last week, the most since June, according to SoSoValue. Most of the selling came on Wednesday and Thursday. Spot ether ETFs have not had a day of inflows since Sept. 28. The nine-day run of outflows is the longest since June.
Oil has eased, with WTI futures down around 2% to $90 per barrel after President Donald Trump said Russia would supply 300,000 metric tons of diesel to global markets, a partial easing of sanctions. Attention now turns to Wednesday’s U.S. consumer price index.
Derivatives positioning
Futures trading is surging, but leverage isn’t building: Trading volume over 24 hours is $126 billion, up 81%. Open interest (OI), the dollar value of all open contracts, is $145.8 billion, up just 2.44%. Traders are churning through positions faster, but few are opening new ones.
Sellers are no longer dominating taker flow: Longs make up 52% of 24-hour taker volume. Taker volume comes from trades where traders pay to have their orders filled immediately, so it shows which side of the transaction is more eager. Last week the long share was lower at 48%.
ZEC is drawing real futures interest, but little of it is new money: The coin is the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by futures volume at $5.46 billion over 24 hours, behind bitcoin, ether and SOL. Its price is up 6% and OI is up 7%. OI is counted in dollars, so a higher price alone lifts it. Strip that out and only about 1% more contracts are open, a small amount of fresh positioning. Annualized funding is 10%, so longs pay shorts a premium to hold their positions. Cumulative volume delta (CVD), which tracks whether aggressive buyers or sellers dominate, is barely positive.