Crypto steadies as Middle East tensions counter U.S. inflation report boost

• Bitcoin held near a three-week high and ether steadied around its highest since June 3 as U.S.-Iran hostilities capped gains from a softer-than-expected U.S. inflation report on Tuesday.
• HYPE rose 4% and is targeting a new record above $78, supported by a trend of higher highs and higher lows since May. Rival LIT stalled as profit-taking set in near its all-time high of $2.76.
• CoinMarketCap's Altcoin Season indicator slipped to 46/100 as strength concentrated in the majors rather than spreading across the broader market.

Bitcoin BTC$65,387.19 and ether (ETH) consolidated during Asian and European hours after rallying on Tuesday following a weaker-than-forecast U.S. inflation figure.

Bitcoin, while more than 3% higher over 24 hours, fell 0.6% since midnight UTC as tensions between Iran and the U.S. over tanker movements in the Strait of Hormuz ramped up. The largest cryptocurrency earlier touched a three-week high of $65,200.

Ether marked a similar trajectory, remaining 5% higher over 24 hours even after dropping 0.8% since midnight. It touched $1,895, the highest level since June 3, on Tuesday.

U.S. equities also rose in the period, with Nasdaq 100 futures and S&P 500 futures posting respective gains of 0.53% and 0.22%.

The altcoin market also showed pockets of strength; PUMP rose by 8.5% since midnight after a team and investor unlock was mopped up by investors, suggesting robust demand.

Derivatives positioning

• BTC derivatives positioning remains largely unchanged. Open interest ticked up to $17.3 billion, though the move is not meaningful, the three-month annualized basis held at 3.8% and funding rates remained broadly in the 0%-8% annualized range across multiple venues. In essence, the market continues to consolidate
• Options positioning tilted more bullish as the 24-hour call/put ratio moved to 66/34 following yesterday's softer 58/42 read and the one-week delta skew held steady at ~15%. The ATM term structure remains in contango, with the front end around 32%–33% and the long end at ~42.5% out to mid-2027 - indicating a calm, non-stressed volatility environment with a renewed lean toward upside positioning.
• Coinglass data shows $357 million in 24-hour liquidations, with a 19-81 split between longs and shorts. ETH ($132 million) and BTC ($118 million) were the leaders in terms of notional liquidations.
• The Binance liquidation heatmap indicates $63,500 as a core liquidation level to monitor in the event of a price drop.

Token talk

• CoinMarketCap’s “Altcoin Season” indicator fell to 46/100 on Wednesday, likely due to the strength shown by the largest cryptocurrencies, bitcoin and ether.
• The indicator was also dragged down by WLFI$0.05726, which lost around 1% since midnight UTC despite buoyancy in the broader market.
• Hyperliquid (HYPE) demonstrated its strength, adding 4% since midnight as it looks to extend May’s rally, which has been characterized by a series of higher highs and higher lows. The next target would be a record high above $78.00.
• HYPE’s rival token, LIT, stalled after a strong month, rising by just 0.5% as it started experiencing profit-taking and supply distribution as it neared its record high of $2.76.
• There was also a strong gain for zcash (ZEC), which surged by more than 10% over the past 24 hours before consolidating around $557.

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