Bitcoin ripped above $97,000 overnight for the first time since late April, touching $97,320 on Binance before settling back to $95,800. The catalyst is unmistakable: the US-Iran ceasefire framework announced Friday removed the single biggest overhang on risk assets, and crypto — which had been trading in a narrow $88,000-$93,000 range for three weeks — finally got its breakout trigger. Long liquidations hit just $48 million, per CoinGlass, suggesting this move was driven by spot buying, not a short squeeze.
Ethereum is up 4.6% to $3,720, outperforming BTC on a percentage basis. On-chain tells a different story here — ETH perpetual funding rates flipped positive overnight after hovering near zero for most of May. Open interest on CME Ether futures jumped 12% in the first Asian session of the week. Per Glassnode, exchange outflows for ETH hit 124,000 ETH in the last 12 hours, the highest single-day outflow since early March. That’s accumulation, not trading.
Altcoins are getting bid across the board. Solana (SOL) is up 6.8% to $178, Cardano (ADA) has gained 5.2%, and Chainlink (LINK) is leading large-cap alts with an 8.3% jump. The DeFi sector is also catching a bid — Uniswap’s UNI token is up 5.9%, while Aave’s AAVE is ahead 6.4%. The CoinDesk Market Index is up 4.1%, its best single-day performance since the February AI narrative rally. The liquidation cascade tells you everything: total crypto liquidations over the past 24 hours sit at just $112 million across all assets, low for a move this size. That means it’s real buying, not a squeeze.
The basis trade has come back to life. Bitcoin annualized basis on Binance futures widened from 6.2% to 9.8% overnight — the highest since mid-April. That’s institutional money flowing into cash-and-carry strategies, a signal that professional traders are betting the rally has room to run. Per The Block’s data dashboard, CME Bitcoin futures open interest hit $8.4 billion, the highest in six weeks.
Watch the ETF flows this week. If Monday’s positive price action translates into net inflows for the spot BTC ETFs, we could see a rapid break of the $98,000 resistance level. Core thesis hasn’t changed — macro risk-off was the only thing holding crypto back, and that wall just crumbled. But be real: a ceasefire-driven rally in oil-sensitive assets is one thing. For crypto to hold above $96,000, we need to see follow-through volume from US institutional desks when the cash opens. $98,000 is the line in the sand. Above that, we’re talking about a run at $100,000.
