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Bitcoin ether (ETH), Yet there is still a bull market somewhere, and several crypto subsectors have seen impressive gains.
Coins associated with derivative protocols, particularly those focused on perpetual futures such as HYPE and LIT, surged 40% or more.
HYPE has been recovering since Trade.xyz, a trading interface based on the Hyperliquid blockchain, listed Space’s pre-IPO perpetual contract on Monday, valuing the company at $1.78 trillion. The trading volume on the contract exceeded $30 million on the first day. The protocol regularly generates millions in fee revenue per week, accounting for over 40% of total fee revenue across the entire market, according to data source DefiLlama.
And it’s not just hyperliquid; investors also trade on other platforms. According to CoinGecko, the average monthly volume on the top 12 decentralized perpetual futures exchanges increased from $532 billion in 2025 to $612 billion in 2026.
Privacy and quantum-resistant coins such as Zcash (ZEC), Quantum Resistance Ledger’s QRL, Qubitcoin’s QTC, and Starknet’s STRK are also on the rise, with gains between 6% and 25%.
The data shows that investors are willing to ignore macro and geopolitical concerns and deploy capital, but only in plays with strong use cases and narratives.
Privacy is in vogue, with fund managers like Arthur Hayes saying it’s a basic necessity as advanced AI, big tech companies and government surveillance rapidly erode privacy. Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin on Wednesday outlined steps being taken to bring privacy features to Ethereum, the world’s largest smart contract blockchain.
As for quantum risks, Google researchers have already warned that a sufficiently powerful quantum machine could in theory attack a massive blockchain like Bitcoin with far fewer resources than expected.
Bitcoin itself is struggling to recover the ground lost over the past seven days, currently trading around $77,300.
“Softer negotiations in the final stages” between the United States and Iran “eliminate some inflationary pressures and give risk assets room to rebound,” Marex analysts said.
This doesn’t look like a sharp restart of the uptrend, however, they said, but rather a relief offering in a market still constrained by rates.
In traditional markets, NVDA closed flat on Wednesday despite a stellar quarterly report, while oil fell to $98 a barrel. Stay vigilant!
Read more: For analysis of current altcoin and derivatives activity, see Crypto Markets Today. For a full list of this week’s events, check out CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
What is the trend
Signal of the day
Ether price has fallen below the trendline connecting the March and April lows. This trendline represented the recovery rally.
The breakdown therefore suggests the end of the price rebound and could spark increased selling pressure from momentum traders, which could lead to a larger price decline.
The low of $1,937, from which prices rose in late March, is now the key support. A violation there would expose levels below $1,800.
