Bitcoin Hits One-Week High as Asian Tech Stocks Rebound; Zcash Sets November Upgrade Date

Bitcoin climbs to a one-week high

Bitcoin reached its highest level in a week on Wednesday, trading around $83,500 and gaining 0.6% since midnight UTC. The rise came as technology stocks in Asia rebounded on strong earnings.

In the U.S., SpaceX and Super Micro Computer set the tone with strong results on Tuesday. South Korea's Kospi index advanced 3.29%, while Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.44%.

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, said the two companies have formed special committees to discuss a merger. According to the report, such a merger would combine more than 30,000 bitcoin held on their balance sheets, worth about $2.5 billion.

Key numbers to know

• Bitcoin traded around $83,500, up 0.6% since midnight UTC.


• South Korea's Kospi rose 3.29%; Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.44%.


• Ether gained 0.6% to near $2,460.


• The CoinDesk 80 index rose 0.47%, the CoinDesk 5 rose 0.64%, the CoinDesk Memecoin Index rose 1.2%, and the CoinDesk 100 rose 0.84%.


• Near led the CoinDesk 100 with a 6.0% gain to about $5.23.


• Zcash extended a jump of about 11% over the past day, trading near $1,260.

Zcash sets a November date for its NU7 upgrade

Zcash rose 0.9% since midnight to about $1,260, extending its 24-hour gain to about 11%. Developers set a November activation date for NU7, an upgrade that cuts block times from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, so payments confirm three times faster. The upgrade also sends 60% of transaction fees into a reserve paid out over time. Even with the recent gains, the token remains down about 12% over the month.

Near, Ethena and other token moves

Near was the biggest gainer in the CoinDesk 100, up 6.0% to about $5.23. The rally coincided with growth in NEAR Intents, its cross-chain swap product whose fees partly fund token buybacks, and a governance proposal to cut annual issuance from 2.5% to 1.6% over two years.

Ethena (ENA), the token behind the USDe synthetic dollar, rose 4.8%, recovering from a drop of about 22% over the month. USDe supply of about $4.7 billion remains well short of the $7.5 billion needed to start ENA buybacks.

Aerodrome (AERO), the Base exchange token, fell 4.4%, the steepest loss in the CoinDesk 100, giving back part of a 6% weekly gain. Morpho lost 2.7% as DeFi lagged, with the sector index up only 0.22%. Injective slipped 2.1%, trimming a gain of about 18% over the month tied to pending U.S. exchange-traded fund applications.

How derivatives traders are positioned

• 24-hour crypto futures volume is $190 billion, up 19%. Open interest is $145 billion, up nearly 4%. Liquidations are $284 million, up 76%.


• The taker long/short volume ratio is nearly 53% to 47%, a tilt toward longs, or bullish plays.


• Spot prices rose 2.6% for BTC and 3.35% for ETH over 24 hours, while futures open interest rose 3% and 2%. Bitcoin's open interest rose about as much as its price, suggesting little fresh money came in.


• ZEC's open interest rose 24% against a 12% price gain, with an annualized funding rate of 10%. Its 24-hour open-interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta is negative, suggesting sellers are hitting bids.


• XMR's open interest rose 8% to above $300 million, near record highs, with spot price up 2% and funding at 4%.


• BTW's annualized funding rate is minus 77%, showing how much bears are paying to hold short positions.


• Bitcoin's 30-day implied volatility index, BVIV, fell back below 40%, unwinding a minor pump above 42% on Oct. 15. Ether's EVIV shows similar calm.


• On Deribit, the one-month put-call skew was 8%, showing a relative bias for puts, though calls above the current spot price were the top five most traded bets, mostly through multi-legged strategies.

What else is on the calendar

Solana's Alpenglow upgrade, which targets finality of about 150 milliseconds, goes live today. Meta Platforms reports earnings after the U.S. close.

Sources

• CoinDesk

Read also: JPMorgan Puts Bitcoin at the Top of Its 10-Year Return Forecast