Bitcoin remains stable around $68,000 as price fluctuations decrease, while WLFI advances prior to Mar-a-Lago event.

Bitcoin is confined to a narrow trading range as derivatives stabilize and altcoins exhibit signs of strength ahead of significant macroeconomic signals and a notable crypto event.

Bitcoin rangebound as WLFI jumps (Asa E K/Unsplash modified by CoinDesk)

Essential points:

• Bitcoin has increased by 0.9% on Wednesday, trading around $68,000, maintaining a range between $65,100 and $72,000 since February 6 as volatility and funding rates have diminished.
• Open interest is at $15.5 billion, funding rates are mostly flat to slightly negative, and options skew has relaxed, indicating a more balanced market environment.
• The WLFI token, supported by Trump, has risen nearly 19% in the past 24 hours in anticipation of a crypto forum at Mar-a-Lago, while MORPHO continues its weekly upward trend.

The cryptocurrency market remains in a narrow trading band on Wednesday, with bitcoin BTC$67,532.47 increasing by 0.9% to approximately $68,000 since midnight UTC.

The leading cryptocurrency has remained within the range of $65,100 and $72,000 since February 6 as market volatility has lessened following a selloff on February 5 that drove BTC to its lowest level since October 2024.

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The altcoin sector is progressing independently. Monero (XMR) and ADA$0.2811 have recorded increases of 3% and 1.7%, respectively, since midnight, while zcash (ZEC) and hyperliquid (HYPE) experienced declines of 3.5% and 1.1% during the same timeframe.

The subdued performance throughout the cryptocurrency market coincides with U.S. equities beginning to recover — S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 index futures have risen by 0.57% and 0.66% since midnight UTC as traders anticipate insights on monetary policy when the Federal Reserve publishes its meeting minutes later on Wednesday.

Derivatives

• Market conditions are transitioning toward stabilization as open interest remains steady at $15.5 billion, indicating a shift from leveraged positions to a stable base.
• While retail sentiment has cooled with funding rates becoming flat to slightly negative (Binance at -0.11%), institutional confidence stays solid, with the three-month annualized basis remaining at 3%.
• The BTC options sector has reached a state of relative balance, with 24-hour trading volume divided 49/51 between calls and puts.
• Although the one-week 25-delta skew has further relaxed to 11%, the implied volatility (IV) term structure continues to show short-term backwardation, as indicated by a sharp rise in the IV curve before stabilizing near 49% for longer-dated contracts.
• Data from Coinglass reveals $193 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours, with a 62-38 division between long and short positions. BTC ($72 million), ETH ($52 million), and others ($12 million) topped the list in terms of notional liquidations.
• The Binance liquidation heatmap suggests $68,800 as a critical liquidation point to watch in the event of a price increase.

Token talk

• The “altcoin season” indicator has climbed to 34/100, up from a low of 22/100 on February 8, reflecting the relative strength within the altcoin market despite generally low volatility.
• The leading asset on Wednesday has been WLFI$0.1182, the DeFi token backed by the Trump family, which has surged 8.8% since midnight and 18.52% in the last 24 hours.
• Investors are showing interest in WLFI ahead of the project’s crypto forum at Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday, which will feature executives from Goldman Sachs, Nasdaq, and Franklin Templeton, among others.
• It is important to note that price surges leading to real-world events or announcements often lead to a “sell the news” scenario, as those “buying the rumor” rush to lock in profits.
• The native MORPHO token of the lending platform Morpho has also been experiencing a positive trend recently, climbing 36% over the past week and 7% in the last 24 hours as traders try to make the most of a generally stagnant market.