Open Interest Changes Suggest Capital Rotation Into Altcoins: Santiment

On Aug. 27, on-chain analytics provider Santiment reported that Bitcoin’s recent “mild” price drop was enough to cause a larger decline in total open interest on exchanges.

However, OI for Ethereum and Solana has barely declined, it added.

Open interest is a measure of the number or value of crypto derivatives contracts that have yet to be settled and remain open. It can also be used to gauge market sentiment for spot markets.

Capital Rotation?

Santiment made a few observations based on the OI changes. It stated that there is a “shifting focus to altcoins” as traders see increasing potential in ETH, SOL, and other recoveries since the market crash earlier this month.

Since the Aug. 5 dump, Ethereum has reclaimed around 23% of value, while Solana has recovered 45%. Other altcoins, especially artificial intelligence-based ones, have surged even higher, with many jumping to pre-flush-out levels.

It also noted that the minor drop for BTC:

“Maybe a signal that a rotation of capital from Bitcoin into altcoins is occurring from large traders, who are diversifying risk and seeking higher returns.”

However, most of the altcoins have fallen by similar amounts today.

📉 While Bitcoin has seen a mild -2.2% price drop in the past 24 hours, it was enough to cause a much larger -7.5% drop in total open interest on exchanges. For comparison, total open interest toward Ethereum and Solana have barely declined. A few takeaways:

🎯 Shifting Focus to… pic.twitter.com/vBltUQxcnX

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) August 27, 2024

Santiment added that traders were “possibly reducing exposure” due to uncertainty, concluding that the larger drop in BTC open interest, compared to smaller assets, “points to traders potentially seeing the August rebound coming to an end and trying to sell the top.”

Several analysts have suggested that altseason could be just around the corner, as reported by CryptoPotato on Aug. 26.

Trader and analyst ‘Stockmoney Lizards’ said that altcoins still need to suffer a bit more in a post on X on Aug. 26.

They added that Bitcoin dominance can rise up to 60-70% post-halving before altcoins start outperforming BTC. It is currently 57.53%, according to Tradingview.

#Altcoins still need to suffer a bit more. BTC.Dominance can rise up to 60-70% post halving before Alts start outperforming Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/qLNk4WAHRh

— Stockmoney Lizards (@StockmoneyL) August 26, 2024

Crypto Markets Retreat

Moreover, markets are retreating again today following a monthly total capitalization peak of $2.37 trillion on Aug. 25. Total cap has fallen 2.6% over the past 24 hours to $2.31 trillion at the time of writing.

Bitcoin has trended steadily downwards, falling to $62,750 during the Tuesday morning Asian trading session. It currently appears to be returning to its rangebound zone around the $60K price level.

Ethereum has dumped 2.4% on the day falling back to $2,680 while the rest of the altcoins were predominantly in the red.