Bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) prices consolidated on Tuesday, trading near $105,000 and $3,550, respectively. Market watchers are assessing whether prices will form lower highs, indicating a downtrend, or continue upward momentum. A bitcoin dip below $98,000 would confirm bearish sentiment, while surpassing the November 2 high of $111,000 would suggest bullish potential.

The recent market fluctuations have been influenced by a stronger U.S. dollar. The Dollar Index (DXY) rose from 96.2 on September 18 to 99.58 amid unclear signals from the Federal Reserve regarding interest rate cuts.

In derivatives markets, 30-day implied volatility for BTC and ETH remains within recent ranges, mirroring Wall Street’s easing volatility measured by the VIX index. However, the “golden cross” in BTC’s implied volatility points to a possible rise in volatility ahead. On the options platform Deribit, put options (downside protection) remain pricier than calls for both BTC and ETH, with demand stronger in BTC.

Large trades on the over-the-counter desk Paradigm included a long position in a November 29 BTC put option at the $80,000 strike price and a call option at $110,000 expiry November 21. Futures open interest (OI) data show an 80% surge in UNI contracts over 24 hours, signaling high leveraged activity, while XRP OI increased 5%. Meanwhile, OI declined for most top-10 cryptocurrencies, including BTC and ETH. CME data reveal ether futures open interest dropping sharply to 2.10 million ETH.

Among altcoins, the market pulled back on Tuesday following gains over the weekend prompted by a $2,000 payment announcement for some U.S. citizens by former President Donald Trump. Uniswap’s native token, UNI, rose more than 20% after a proposal to burn millions of its tokens, potentially reducing supply and pushing prices higher. The price later stabilized.

Conversely, the newly launched Canton Network (CC) token dropped 33% on its market debut, despite backing from financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs, HSBC, and Broadridge. It currently holds a $3.8 billion market cap with a modest $55 million in 24-hour trading volume, according to data on CoinMarketCap. The platform, marketed as a layer-1 blockchain for institutional use, recorded over 500,000 daily transactions in September per info from crypto custodian Copper.

The underwhelming market debut of CC echoes the weak start of Plasma’s XPL token, which fell from $1.67 to $0.28 within a month of launching. XPL declined an additional 11.5% in the last 24 hours.

The future direction of altcoins depends largely on whether bitcoin and ether can maintain support levels or face rejection, potentially reinforcing a downtrend since October’s highs.

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