Volatility across major CoinDesk indices stayed low, with bitcoin maintaining its position above the key $94,500 breakout level despite limited price movement. Dash (DASH) led the market, climbing 15% on the day and pushing its weekly gain to 141% as most other altcoins cooled. Meanwhile, altcoins showed relative strength against major cryptocurrencies, with the CoinDesk 80 Index ticking higher as traders waited for new catalysts from U.S. markets and global political developments.
Crypto market volatility slowed sharply on Friday, with all major CoinDesk indexes moving less than 1% since midnight UTC. The subdued action comes as Bitcoin continues to trade above the key $94,500 level, which it broke earlier this week after months of range-bound movement.
Zcash, APT, and Polygon (POL) each recorded slight losses, while Dash—a privacy-focused payments token—continued its strong start to the year, climbing 15% and extending its weekly gain to 141%. The market is now looking for its next catalyst as political unrest in Iran and Venezuela revives crypto’s “safe-haven” narrative, highlighted by the divergence between digital assets and U.S. equities, which underperformed BTC and ETH this week.
Derivatives market positioning
Exchanges have unwound nearly $240 million in leveraged crypto futures positions. Total futures open interest across the market has eased to $143 billion from $146 billion, signaling a cooling in demand for leveraged trading.
Bitcoin’s volatility slump persists. Volmex’s 30-day implied volatility now reflects an average daily move of about 2.5% over the next month. Ethereum’s 30-day implied volatility has also fallen, reaching its lowest level since early 2024.
ZEC saw futures open interest drop 14% in 24 hours, contributing to capital outflows across most major tokens, including bitcoin, ether, solana, and XRP. In contrast, Monero stood out with an 8% increase in open interest.
ZEC’s annualized funding rates plunged to -50%, indicating strong demand for bearish, short positions. This also suggests that downside bets may be becoming crowded, a setup that can often precede a potential short squeeze.
In the options market, block trades showed a large short position in bitcoin’s $112,000 call expiring on February 6. This may have been paired with a long spot position as part of a covered call strategy to generate additional yield. For Ethereum, block flows leaned toward the iron condor strategy, which is typically used to benefit from a range-bound price environment.
Crypto token overview
DASH once again took the lead on Friday, climbing over 15% since midnight UTC, even as most of the altcoin market stayed subdued following an earlier rally at the start of the week. This could be a constructive signal for the broader altcoin space, as DASH had also been the first mover during Asian trading on Tuesday, hours before the wider market broke higher.
XTZ also displayed strength, advancing 8.3% from a morning low of $0.57 to $0.62. The CoinDesk 80 Index (CD80), which tracks a broader range of altcoins, is up 0.68% since midnight, while the CoinDesk 20 (CD20) is largely flat—suggesting relative outperformance among altcoins as major tokens move sideways.
Traders are now watching the U.S. market open to see whether traditional markets might inject volatility ahead of the weekend, a period that is typically marked by lighter volume and liquidity.
Sources: Investing
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