Bitcoin Is Down—But These Altcoins Are Soaring

Bitcoin is down by roughly 1% today after having retraced to just above $41,000—erasing some of those bullish gains earlier this month. But there is still major altcoinaltcoin action in the markets.

The Aptos blockchain's native APT is now trading for $8.91 per coin, according to CoinGecko, having jumped by more than 15% in 24 hours.

The surge comes following the unlocking of 24.8 million APT tokens today—worth over $200 million—which were distributed to early investors and core network contributors. The timing is curious, given that token unlocks, which means more tokens are now available for trading, are generally viewed as a bearish indicator.

The project was founded by developers who worked on Meta's Diem blockchain and has attracted increased investor attention recently following an August partnership with Microsoft.

Meanwhile, Cosmos (ATOM), a project which aims to create an "Internet of Blockchains" by improving interoperability, is also up significantly: The token has gained more than 19% and is right now priced at $11.80.

And KuCoin (KSC) has soared 19% in the past day. The native token of the major cryptocurrency exchange rose on news that the company had agreed to block New York users from its platform and pay $22 million to settle an SEC lawsuit.

Aptos Futures Demand Hits 3-Month High as Traders Rush to Short APT

Market trends suggest investors are taking a bearish view of Aptos. The open interest (OI) volume for APT futures, representing outstanding futures orders in the market, surged to a three-month high above $160 million this morning, per Coinglass data. This increase in APT price and OI volumes follow a new AI partnership with Microsoft on Thursday. Aptos, a layer-1 blockchain platform, emerged as a spin-off from Facebook's–now Meta–crypto project, Libra, which launched on October 12, 2022. Throu...

Of the major coins and tokens, Avalanche continues to do well: the blockchain's native AVAX coin earlier today became the 10th biggest cryptocurrency by market cap—flipping Dogecoin (DOGE). It is currently up more than 6% over the day and trading for $37.65.

Investment banking giant J.P. Morgan said in November it had used the Avalanche blockchain to tokenize portfolios leading to an increase in money and interest in the project.