DeFiLlama’s Movers dashboard is showing diverging momentum across crypto markets. In the September 12 update, Zcash (ZEC), Uniswap (UNI), Hyperliquid (HYPE), XRP and Solana (SOL) still outperformed Bitcoin on a 30-day basis, but only ZEC posted positive performance over both the 7-day and 30-day time frames. HYPE, UNI and XRP turned negative over the past week, SOL gained only modestly, and Bitcoin remained in decline.
The divergence follows a strong August for altcoins, when 83 of the top 100 alternative cryptocurrencies closed higher. Binance Research estimated total crypto market capitalization rose 17.6% in August to $2.70 trillion, but tied part of that move to interest-rate repricing. A hawkish speech by Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh at Jackson Hole on August 28 removed about 60% of September easing expectations at once. By September 11, Reuters reported the 10-year Treasury yield near 4.93% after CPI rose 0.4% month-over-month and 3.4% year-over-year, keeping borrowing costs around 5% and pressuring risk assets.
James Butterfill, CoinShares head of research, said Bitcoin has traded increasingly like gold as the debasement trade returned to the fore, though tighter monetary policy may reduce appetite for risk. Glassnode’s Week 37 report showed Bitcoin near $79,100, with futures open interest above its upper statistical band, strengthening capital inflows and 69.3% of coins in profit even as leverage and profit-taking increased. Tokenomist found a median 14.7% decline relative to Bitcoin in the month before scheduled unlocks, concentrated in early-stage, thin-float tokens.
On the macro cycle, Bitwise reported that Bitcoin’s 260-day correlation with the S&P 500 has fallen to its lowest since 2015, a period that preceded a roughly 98-fold Bitcoin rally, though it cautioned that a repeat is unlikely. Crypto Capital Venture’s risk model puts the altcoin market at 14 out of 100, Bitcoin around 20, Cardano at 17 and SUI at 20; historically, such low altcoin risk readings have been followed by higher prices in 86% of cases after three months and 100% after one year. U.S. ISM Manufacturing PMI was 54.6 in August, an eighth consecutive month of expansion, and the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book showed slight-to-moderate growth in ten of twelve districts. The combination of fading short-term momentum, elevated yields and still-supportive macro expansion leaves the market in a selective rotation phase rather than a confirmed broad risk-off reversal.
