Major cryptocurrencies are trading positively following Wednesday's 25-basis-point interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve, with altcoins particularly benefiting from the dovish monetary policy. BNB led the charge, breaking through the $1,000 psychological barrier for the first time as momentum accelerates toward fresh record highs. AVAX and DOT also posted significant gains of 5% to 9%, supported by double-digit increases in futures open interest over the past 24 hours.
Market analysts maintain a cautious stance despite the rally. Timothy Misir, head of research at BRN, noted that "The Fed rate cut gave crypto a near-term lift, but the rally is not yet clean. Institutional flows are supportive overall, yet exchange inflows and a single-day ETF outflow signal distribution into strength." He suggested traders use a bitcoin price band of $115,000–$115,500 as a tactical risk management guardrail.
Bitcoin dominance has slipped to 56% at CoinMarketCap, its lowest level since early January, indicating growing investor appetite for more speculative altcoin investments. The decentralized finance (DeFi) sector has been a major beneficiary, with total value locked (TVL) across all protocols hitting $170 billion—the highest point since April 2022. Hyperliquid's layer-1 blockchain reached a record high TVL of $2.77 billion, while Sui's TVL rose 3% to $2.1 billion.
Derivatives data presents a mixed picture. While BTC's cumulative open interest in USD and USDT-denominated perpetual futures continues to drop despite rising prices, several tokens including BCH, TRX, BNB, BTC, XMR, AVAX, and SUI show positive open interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta, indicating strong buying pressure. Ether options remain bullish across all tenors, and funding rates for smaller speculative tokens remain around 10%, showing no signs of market overheating.
