Crypto Markets Today: Bitcoin rallies on Japan rate hike as futures traders pile in

Market Overview - The crypto market experienced significant volatility, with bitcoin (BTC) rising from $85,200 to $88,000 following the Bank of Japan's interest rate hike, marking the highest level in 30 years [1] - This week, bitcoin has jumped over 2% on four occasions, although these rallies have been temporary, reflecting the choppy behavior typical of previous crypto bear markets [1] Derivatives Positioning - Bitcoin open interest increased faster than its price, indicating that the price movement was supported by leveraged long positions rather than short position cover [5] - The aggregate funding rate for bitcoin across exchanges rose to 0.085%, the highest since November 21, suggesting a bullish environment as long position holders pay interest to short sellers [5] - The altcoin market did not reflect bitcoin's bullish signals, with SOL and XRP open interest declining by 4.4% and 2.6%, respectively, indicating futures traders are exiting speculative assets [5] Altcoin Market Dynamics - Bitcoin's long/short ratio shows a bullish skew, with 66% of traders going long in the past four hours [5] - Despite the overall altcoin market suffering, ether (ETH) outperformed bitcoin, rising by 1.5% against BTC, although it had been in a downtrend earlier in the week [5] - The altcoin market requires bitcoin to break above resistance levels and consolidate to encourage capital flow into more speculative assets [5] - The lack of speculation is evident as CoinDesk's memecoin index (CDMEME) increased by 2.42%, while the CoinDesk 20 (CD20) rose by 3.68% [5]