Bitcoin is down to start the week, dropping to around $29,300, a decrease of 1.92% in the last 24 hours. The CoinDesk Market Index (CMI), which measures the performance of the broader digital asset market, is also in the red, down 2.38% at 1,266.87. BTC’s trading range is still relatively narrow, reflecting the cautious stance of investors. “Although market dynamics in summer months can tend toward volatility with lower trading flows, the recent period has been remarkably calm for top crypto assets in the market,” Simon Peters, a market analyst at eToro said. “The softening of the price we’re watching currently suggests investors are looking for positivity to cling to, but with little forthcoming for now it is very much wait and see.”

Bitcoin price down around 1.9% (CoinDesk)

Elon Musk is rebranding Twitter to X, prompting surges in scores of X tokens as traders jumped on the potential opportunity to eke out some small profits. One token, related to a project that shut in May, jumped as much as 1,200% while the new “AI-X” token opportunistically issued over the weekend following Musk’s announcement jumped 10-fold. “Meme coins are huge parts of the crypto trading landscape, whether we like it or not,” James Wo, founder at crypto fund DFG, told CoinDesk at the heights of one such meme obsession. “While the biggest currencies like bitcoin and ether have very low volatility, it's only natural that traders will look for opportunities elsewhere.”

Worldcoin, the crypto project of ChatGPT founder Sam Altman, has gone live with its token WLD surging 62% to $2.60, according to data from CoinGecko. Crypto exchanges Binance, Huobi, Bybit and OKX have listed WLD, with spot trading of WLD/USDT, WLD/USDC and WLD/BTC available. The aim of the project, which raised $115 million in May, is to establish a decentralized digital identity system in order to preserve personal privacy. More than 2 million people were onboarded while the project was still in beta. WLD is not currently available in the U.S. owing to regulatory uncertainty.

A message from Kraken

Bitcoin traders in the perpetual futures market are exercising caution, unwilling to take on high leverage, according to data tracked by Glassnode and Blockware Solutions.

The open interest in the BTC perpetual futures as a percentage of bitcoin’s market cap has been locked between 1.5% and 1.7% in the last four weeks, well below the 2.6% high of September last year.

"Open interest/market cap ratio remains relatively low, which means that spot will likely keep driving the price higher in the short to medium term as supply continues to slowly contract into the hands of long-term holders," analysts at Blockware Solutions said in a newsletter on Friday.

Open interest refers to the dollar value locked in the number of active contracts. Leverage allows traders to open positions worth more than the money or coins deposited as a margin at the exchange and can magnify both profits and losses as well as exposing traders to liquidations. The higher the degree of leverage, the greater the probability that liquidations inject volatility into the market.

Disclaimer: This article was written and edited by CoinDesk journalists with the sole purpose of informing the reader with accurate information. If you click on a link from Glassnode, CoinDesk may earn a commission. For more, see our Ethics Policy.

- Omkar Godbole