Bitcoin surged to a new all-time high of $123,000 last week, driven by strong derivatives market activity and sustained bullish sentiment according to the Bybit report. Consistently positive funding rates and an options market skewed in favour of call contracts signaled strong investor confidence.
At its peak, open interest in perpetual futures exceeded $13 billion the highest in July 2025 while short-term BTC implied volatility briefly jumped to 41% before cooling off to 33% following a 5% price pullback to $116,000.
Ether also posted strong gains, reclaiming the $3,000 level for the first time since February. ETH rose 20% over the week, trading around $3,150 by mid-July. Short-term options volatility rose sharply from 54% to 71% between July 8 and 16. Futures are trading at a premium, with a 5% options skew favoring out-of-the-money calls. Call option open interest now more than doubles that of puts, underlining the positive market sentiment.
In contrast, Solana underperformed its Layer 1 peers despite several positive ecosystem developments. While SUI gained 37% and ETH rose 20%, SOL posted a more modest 9% weekly return. Recent support for Solana includes inflows into the REX-Osprey SOL ETF and treasury acquisitions by DeFi Development Corp. and Mercurity Fintech Holding Inc. On July 10, DeFi Development Corp. added 153,225 SOL to its holdings, aiming for a 1 SOL-per-share reserve by 2028. Mercurity also announced a $500 million “DeFi Basket” focused on Solana. Despite these signals, price gains remain subdued.
Options activity for SOL remains bullish, with over $6 million in open interest on calls and volumes consistently outpacing puts. However, the market continues to favor ETH and BTC, both of which are benefiting from stronger momentum and institutional interest across derivatives.
Further reinforcing the bullish case, on-chain indicators also point to a potential trend reversal. In an earlier analysis dated April 13, CryptoQuant contributor Joao Wedson highlighted a narrowing gap between Bitcoin’s futures and spot prices on Binance referred to as the perpetual-spot gap.
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