Bitcoin falls with ether, solana while decred, AI-linked tokens advance

Positioning in futures and options shows traders looking to protect against further declines.

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What to know:

• Bitcoin is facing renewed selling pressure, dropping 2% in 24 hours, with ether, XRP, solana and the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) registering similar losses.
• Positioning in futures and options shows traders looking to protect against further declines.
• Internet computer, render and bittensor were among AI-related tokens to benefit from renewed investor interest in the sector, boosted in part by Nvidia’s earnings report.

Decred (DCR), a token built for autonomy and decentralized governance, extended gains even as the broader market led by bitcoin BTC$67,963.04 struggled.

The token has risen 16% in the past 24 hours and now trades at $34.58, the highest since November, CoinDesk data show. It's the best-performing top-100 token over the past four weeks, having gained more than 80% after a Feb. 8 change to its treasury rules.

Bitcoin, for its part, is facing renewed selling pressure, trading just around $67,000, a weak follow-through after bouncing to $70,000 on Wednesday. The cryptocurrency is down 2% on a 24-hour basis, with ether (ETH), XRP (XRP), solana (SOL), and the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) registering similar losses.

Market participants remain cautious and are continuing to seek put options, or downside protection, in bitcoin. Deribit said that ETF holders and corporate treasuries are buying put options at the $60,000 strike expiring in six to 12 months.

Analysts said institutional flows are improving but not yet decisive, and traders should avoid taking big risks.

"Long-term investors may consider staggered accumulation (SIP-style allocation) near support zones rather than deploying lump sums at resistance," Vikram Subburaj, CEO of crypto exchange Giottus.com, said in an email to CoinDesk.

Derivatives positioning

• Cumulative crypto futures open interest (OI) has fallen back to recent multimonth lows of around $93.5 billion. The drop shows how quickly the optimism sparked by Wednesday's bitcoin price bounce has fizzled out.
• Major tokens, including bitcoin and ether, have seen capital outflows from futures as notional OI declined more than their spot prices.
• The market-wide long-short ratio continues to show a dominance of shorts, or bearish bets.
• OI in tether gold (XAUT) dropped another 11% extending the decline from early this week. Gold-linked assets seem to have fallen out of favor lately.
• Most large-cap tokens, including BTC and ETH, are again seeing negative perpetual funding rates. That means bearish plays are dominating the market once more.
• Participation in CME bitcoin futures is falling, as shown by open interest hitting the lowest levels this year.
• On Deribit, one-month bitcoin puts still trade at a 7% premium to calls in a sign of lingering concerns of further spot price declines. The same is true for ether.
• Bitcoin put spreads, a bearish strategy, accounted for 75% of the total block flow over 24 hours. In ETH's case, traders chased put spreads and straddles (volatility strategies).

Token Talk

The DFINITY Foundation proposed burning 20% of cloud engine revenue, introducing a deflationary element tied directly to network usage for Internet Computer (ICP).

The remaining 80% of revenue would be routed to node operators, replacing fixed emissions with performance-based incentives. The idea is to make ICP’s token supply more responsive to real demand.

ICP’s price moved up roughly 6% in the last 24-hour period, from around $2.41 to $2.56. It’s down from a high of $2.7 seen during the period. The price appears to be influenced not just by the foundation's proposal, but also by Nvidia’s blowout earnings.

Those earnings boosted sentiment surrounding artificial intelligence-linked assets, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang saying AI is only getting better.

ICP, often marketed as a decentralized alternative to traditional cloud AI infrastructure, was among several AI-linked tokens, including render (RENDER) and bittensor (TAO), to benefit from renewed investor interest in the sector.

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