Bitcoin recovered toward $78,000 on Thursday after falling to $76,200 a day earlier, its lowest level in 10 days, as markets absorbed another escalation in Middle East tensions. Last week’s push above $81,000 was followed by a retreat to $77,000 after Kevin Warsh's hawkish speech at Jackson Hole. The latest $76,000-area drop was quickly defended, helping restore part of Wednesday’s losses. Bitcoin’s market capitalization climbed back to roughly $1.56 trillion, while its dominance over altcoins remained at 59.6%.
Altcoin performance was selective rather than synchronized. Arbitrum’s native token ARB extended its Robinhood Chain-linked rally for a third consecutive session, jumping 16.77% to trade near $0.14, with its market capitalization above $916 million. CryptoPotato data showed ARB up 18.5% on the day and roughly 50% over the past week. Open interest in ARB surged almost 10% to a record 1.58 billion tokens, while daily trading volume reached $486 million, more than nine times last week’s average of about $50 million. PONS surged 30.85% over 24 hours to $0.50, taking its weekly gain to 318.72%.
Other majors improved unevenly. XRP reclaimed $1.35, BNB moved slightly above $700, Solana returned to $100, and Ether continued battling for $2,400. In contrast, Uniswap slumped 6.5% after its recent rally. The total crypto market capitalization added about $20 billion to reach $2.62 trillion.
Institutional flows still showed some hesitation. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs posted a $9.3 million net outflow, a second consecutive day of selling, though far smaller than Tuesday’s $239 million withdrawal. Derivatives positioning remained relatively light in BTC and ETH, but higher-strike Bitcoin calls at $82,000 and $84,000 continued to lead Deribit options volume, preserving a bullish bias.
