Following Japan’s largest interest rate hike in 30 years, bitcoin defied expectations by climbing over 3% as leveraged longs drove derivatives activity despite broader altcoin weakness.
Bitcoin surged from $85,200 to $88,000 within five hours after the Bank of Japan raised interest rates to a 30-year high, defying risk-off expectations. Open interest in bitcoin rose faster than its price, with funding rates turning decisively positive at 0.085%, signaling new leveraged longs rather than short covering. 66% of traders went long over the past four hours. Altcoins, including SOL and XRP, saw declining open interest, while ETH outperformed BTC with a 1.5% gain against it. The altcoin season index fell to 14/100, and several tokens like RNDR and ATOM experienced sell-offs.