Crypto steadies as Middle East tensions counter U.S. inflation report boost

Bitcoin held steady at a three-week high as rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran reined in gains from Tuesday's softer-than-expected inflation numbers.

Summary

Bitcoin held near a three-week high and ether steadied around its highest since June 3 as U.S.-Iran hostilities capped gains from a softer-than-expected U.S. inflation report on Tuesday.
HYPE rose 4% and is targeting a new record above $78, supported by a trend of higher highs and higher lows since May. Rival LIT stalled as profit-taking set in near its all-time high of $2.76.
CoinMarketCap's Altcoin Season indicator slipped to 46/100 as strength concentrated in the majors rather than spreading across the broader market.

Bitcoin BTC $ 64,685.56 and ether (ETH) consolidated during Asian and European hours after rallying on Tuesday following a weaker-than-forecast U.S. inflation figure.

Bitcoin, while more than 3% higher over 24 hours, fell 0.6% since midnight UTC as tensions between Iran and the U.S. over tanker movements in the Strait of Hormuz ramped up. The largest cryptocurrency earlier touched a three-week high of $65,200.

Ether marked a similar trajectory, remaining 5% higher over 24 hours even after dropping 0.8% since midnight. It touched $1,895, the highest level since June 3, on Tuesday.

U.S. equities also rose in the period, with Nasdaq 100 futures and S&P 500 futures posting respective gains of 0.53% and 0.22%.

The altcoin market also showed pockets of strength; PUMP rose by 8.5% since midnight after a team and investor unlock was mopped up by investors, suggesting robust demand.

Derivatives positioning

BTC derivatives positioning remains largely unchanged. Open interest ticked up to $17.3 billion, though the move is not meaningful, the three-month annualized basis held at 3.8% and funding rates remained broadly in the 0%-8% annualized range across multiple venues. In essence, the market continues to consolidate
Options positioning tilted more bullish as the 24-hour call/put ratio moved to 66/34 following yesterday's softer 58/42 read and the one-week delta skew held steady at ~15%. The ATM term structure remains in contango, with the front end around 32%–33% and the long end at ~42.5% out to mid-2027 - indicating a calm, non-stressed volatility environment with a renewed lean toward upside positioning.
Coinglass data shows $357 million in 24-hour liquidations, with a 19-81 split between longs and shorts. ETH ($132 million) and BTC ($118 million) were the leaders in terms of notional liquidations.
The Binance liquidation heatmap indicates $63,500 as a core liquidation level to monitor in the event of a price drop.

Token talk

CoinMarketCap’s “Altcoin Season” indicator fell to 46/100 on Wednesday, likely due to the strength shown by the largest cryptocurrencies, bitcoin and ether.
The indicator was also dragged down by WLFI $ 0.05694 , which lost around 1% since midnight UTC despite buoyancy in the broader market.
Hyperliquid (HYPE) demonstrated its strength, adding 4% since midnight as it looks to extend May’s rally, which has been characterized by a series of higher highs and higher lows. The next target would be a record high above $78.00.
HYPE’s rival token, LIT, stalled after a strong month, rising by just 0.5% as it started experiencing profit-taking and supply distribution as it neared its record high of $2.76.
There was also a strong gain for zcash (ZEC), which surged by more than 10% over the past 24 hours before consolidating around $557.
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Gate Leads Spot Market Share Gains as CEX Volumes Rise for First Time in Five Months

CEX trading volumes rose for the first time in five months in June, with spot climbing 15.3% to $1.11T and RWA perpetual volumes surging to a record $311B.

Why it matters :

CEX trading volumes rose for the first time in five months in June, with spot climbing 15.3% to $1.11T and RWA perpetual volumes surging to a record $311B.