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bitcoin ether (ETH), Still, there is always a bull market somewhere, and several crypto sub-sectors have seen impressive gains.
Coins associated with derivatives protocols, particularly those focused on perpetual futures like HYPE and LIT, have risen 40% or more.
HYPE has been rallying 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 contract’s trading volume exceeded $30 million on its first day. The protocol consistently generates millions in fee revenue per week, representing more than 40% of total fee revenue across the market, according to data source DefiLlama.
And it’s not just Hyperliquid; Investors are trading elsewhere, too. According to CoinGecko, the average monthly volume on the top 12 decentralized exchanges for perpetual futures contracts has increased to $612 billion in 2026 from $532 billion in 2025.
Privacy and quantum-resistant coins such as Zcash (ZEC), Quantum Resistance Ledger’s QRL, Qubitcoin’s QTC, and Starknet’s STRK are also rising, with gains of between 6% and 25%.
The data shows that investors are willing to overlook macro and geopolitical concerns and deploy capital, but only in coins with strong use cases and narratives.
Privacy is the flavor of the season, and fund managers like Arthur Hayes say it’s a critical need as advanced artificial intelligence, big tech companies and government surveillance rapidly erode privacy. Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin on Wednesday outlined steps taken to add 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 previously estimated.
Bitcoin itself is struggling to regain ground lost over the past seven days and is currently trading around $77,300.
“Softer negotiations in the final stages” between the United States and Iran “remove some inflationary pressure and give risk assets room to rebound,” Marex analysts said.
However, this does not look like a clean restart of the uptrend, they said, but rather an offer of relief in a market that is still constrained by rates.
In traditional markets, NVDA closed flat on Wednesday despite an impressive quarterly earnings report, while oil fell to $98 a barrel. Stay alert!
Read more: For an analysis of current activity in altcoins and derivatives, see Crypto Markets Today. For a complete list of this week’s events, check out CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
What is trend?
Today’s sign
Ether price has fallen below the trend line connecting the March and April lows. This trend line represented the rebound of the recovery.
Therefore, the breakout suggests the end of the price bounce and may lead to greater selling pressure from momentum traders, which could lead to a deeper price decline.
The low of $1,937, from which prices rose in late March, is now the key support. A breach there would expose levels below $1,800.
