Altcoins at attention

Neither Bitcoin nor Ethereum have budged over the past 24 hours. But check out XRP. And DOGE, for that matter. Each of them gained 4% since early Wednesday. 

We’ve watched XRP fail to hit $1.40 for going on three weeks now. Occasionally, the $1.38 level would come into view but inevitably slip away. Well, at last glance, as of 9:45 a.m. (EST), the coin associated with Ripple, after 20 or so days of consolidating, was trading at $1.43. 

“While Bitcoin drifts around $75,000, XRP is seeing renewed interest,” CoinDesk said, pointing out U.S.-listed spot XRP ETFs garnering $17M worth of inflows on Wednesday. 

Ripple, meanwhile, has just announced a partnership with a South Korean life insurer to test tokenized government bond settlement via Ripple Custody. 

As for DOGE, it has been some version of roughly nine cents for at least a month. However, volatility indicators now suggest a jarring end to this lethargy could be imminent.

It was back during the pandemic that we made a conscious effort to stop doom scrolling. Too much negativity.

But you know, every so often an abundance of negativity can be a good thing.

Looking at a seven-day moving average, Bitcoin funding rates have dropped to around -0.005%, according to Glassnode data. That’s the lowest level for BTC funding rates since 2023.

What’s the long and short of all this?

In the realm of BTC perpetual futures, opposite-positioned traders exchange periodic payments in order to keep prices lined up with the underlying spot market. When long traders pay short ones, it’s a reflection of bullish positioning, as CoinDesk explained. 

Data providers like Glassnode measure how all of these periodic payments stack up and arrive at a net figure. This is the futures’ “funding rate.” In the example of longs shelling out to shorts, the rate is deemed “positive.” 

When the rate turns negative — when shorts pay longs — it’s an indication of a market skewed toward downside bets.

And when the rate goes unusually negative, it can be interpreted as a signal that the market bottomed.

Stock futures are green. Yesterday saw the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite hit record highs.

President Trump told Fox Business that the war in Iran is “very close to over.” That was yesterday morning.

This morning, War Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking at a press briefing at the Pentagon, warned Iranian leaders to “choose wisely” in terms of the peace deal that is said to be on the table. "We are reloading with more power than ever before,” Hegseth declared.

The two-week ceasefire is set to expire next Wednesday. U.S. and Iran reportedly are back-channeling communiques regarding an extension.

Underscoring possible diplomatic headway, Pakistan’s army chief arrived in Tehran to continue mediation efforts, The Guardian reported.

Trump announced the ceasefire on April 7. Recall how oil prices plunged.

As it turns out, the CFTC is probing a curious spike in oil trading volume just prior to that announcement. The federal commodities regulator is also probing a spike in volume that took place March 23 ahead of Trump postponing strikes on Iran’s infrastructure.

On March 31, in a related move, the CFTC publicly warned that it’s keeping a close eye on illicit insider activity within prediction markets. “There’s a myth in mainstream media and social media that insider trading doesn’t apply in the prediction markets,” said David Miller, the CFTC’s head of enforcement. “That is wrong.”

Amidst pressure from Capitol Hill, Kalshi and Polymarket have introduced new rules aimed at curbing insider trading. And, as Cointelegraph pointed out, there has been newly floated legislation, the “Public Integrity in Financial Prediction Markets Act of 2026,” specifically meant to quash insider trading by government officials.