Bitcoin holds near $82,500 as DeFi tokens lead altcoin gains, CoinDesk data show
In brief
- Bitcoin traded around $82,500, up about 0.5% since midnight UTC, per CoinDesk data.
- Ether rose 0.75% to near $2,430 as altcoins outpaced bitcoin.
- CoinDesk 80 gained 0.9%, triple the CoinDesk 5's 0.35% rise.
- DeFi led CoinDesk sector benchmarks with a 0.81% gain; all six DFX members rose.
- Nasdaq 100 futures rose more than 1% after China's Q3 GDP beat expectations.
Altcoins outpace bitcoin
Altcoins did better than bitcoin in the session. Ether rose 0.75% to near $2,430, per CoinDesk, and the wider market beat the bitcoin-heavy names.
The gap shows up clearly in CoinDesk's own indexes. The CoinDesk 80 (CD80) gained 0.9%, which is triple the 0.35% rise in the bitcoin-heavy CoinDesk 5 (CD5). These are intraday snapshot figures (not closing levels), so they're best read as a mid-morning picture.
DeFi was the standout.
DeFi led the CoinDesk benchmarks with a 0.81% gain, CoinDesk reported, and all six members of its DFX sector index moved higher. It wasn't one token carrying the sector. Bitcoin's bounce also kept it comfortably above Thursday's brief break below $80,000, according to the same report.
Stocks rebound after a rough week
The equity backdrop had been ugly. CoinDesk reported that the Nasdaq fell 4.5% the previous week, its worst weekly decline since June, as worries over AI spending and debt hit stocks including CoreWeave (which fell 25%).
Monday looked different. Nasdaq 100 futures rose more than 1% alongside gains in Asian stocks after China's third-quarter GDP growth of 4.5% beat expectations and oil prices eased, according to CoinDesk.
Crypto and equities moved higher in the same window. That's the extent of what the data shows, and it doesn't tell us which side was leading.
What's on deck
Meta Platforms and Tesla were due to report earnings during the week, CoinDesk noted. Both reports land after a stretch where AI spending worries hit tech stocks hard.
