Altcoins rally while bitcoin holds near $84,000 as traders look past Bitget's $351.6 million hack
Altcoins climb while bitcoin holds near $84,000
Bitcoin traded at $84,342 on Friday, unchanged since midnight UTC, while most other cryptocurrencies rose. Altcoins, the term for cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin, moved higher across the market: 93 of the 100 coins in the CoinDesk 100 index gained over the past 24 hours.
The CoinDesk 80 index, which tracks smaller coins, rose 4.7%, while the CoinDesk 5, which tracks larger coins, added 1.0%. From below $63,000 in August, bitcoin climbed to almost $87,000 on Tuesday and has moved sideways since, according to CoinDesk.
Key numbers from the past 24 hours
- CoinMarketCap's altcoin season index read 56 out of 100, up from 45 a week ago and 38 a month ago. CoinDesk called it the highest reading in more than three months.
- Quant jumped 39% over 24 hours.
- The CoinDesk Computing Index rose 9.5% over 24 hours, led by Chainlink, internet computer (ICP) and bittensor (TAO).
- The DeFi Select Index rose 8.7% over the same period.
- Both sector indexes beat the blended benchmark's 2.5% gain by more than three times.
What Bitget says about the $351.6 million hack
Bitget lost $351.6 million overnight. According to CoinDesk, attackers compromised a backend system in the exchange's wallet infrastructure and spoofed transaction data to trigger Bitget's own authorisation process. An exchange is a platform where users trade crypto; a wallet stores the keys that control crypto funds.
Chief executive Gracy Chen said a private key compromise has been ruled out and that a $464 million user protection fund covers the loss. Withdrawals remain suspended pending a security review. CoinDesk described the incident as the largest exchange hack in months.
Why money moved into smaller coins
CoinDesk said the shift followed the pattern of earlier cycles, in which capital moves into more speculative bets after bitcoin has risen sharply and then stalled. In this case, the report said, the cost of holding a long position through elevated funding encouraged traders to rotate into other coins. Funding payments are periodic fees exchanged between traders who bet on rising and falling prices.
Traders looked past the Bitget hack, CoinDesk reported, and the rotation into smaller coins continued even as bitcoin went sideways.
Macro backdrop turns supportive
European shares opened sharply higher after reports that U.S. and Iranian negotiators are discussing a phased reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, CoinDesk said. Brent crude traded below $100 at $98.94, gold rose 0.26% to $4,287, and the dollar index eased 0.11% to 101.14.
Derivatives data points to a calmer market
- The 24-hour long-short taker volume ratio sat near 50%, easing off the previous day's 52% short-heavy tilt.
- Trading volume fell 17% to $206 billion, while open interest edged up 1.8% to $153 billion. Open interest is the total value of futures contracts still open.
- Liquidations dropped 63% to $228 million. A liquidation is when a leveraged position is closed by the platform.
- Bitcoin futures open interest slipped back below 700,000 BTC.
- Binance whale positioning stayed strongly tilted toward long positions, with a long-short whale account ratio of 1.33 and a whale position ratio of 1.87.
CoinDesk said lower volume with slightly higher open interest suggests a quieter market where existing positions are held rather than traded, and that the fall in liquidations points to little forced selling in either direction.
What is confirmed and what is not yet clear
Confirmed from the source material: the price and index figures reported by CoinDesk, the $351.6 million loss at Bitget, the existence of a $464 million user protection fund, the suspension of withdrawals, and the statement from chief executive Gracy Chen that private key compromise has been ruled out.
Still unclear: the source does not say whether the protection fund has already paid out to cover the loss, when withdrawals will resume, or what the security review will conclude. The explanation that traders moved into smaller coins because of funding costs and past market patterns comes from CoinDesk's analysis, not from a confirmed data point.
Sources
Newisty Editorial Team covers technology, cryptocurrency, digital products, online platforms, developer tools and the wider digital economy. Our content is researched from official sources, company announcements, public documentation, market data and other primary or reputable sources. Articles are reviewed and edited before publication for clarity, accuracy and useful context.