- Combined open interest in top altcoins surged to $45B in July, up from $26B earlier in the month.
- ETH perpetual volume dominance overtook Bitcoin’s for the first time since the 2022 cycle bottom.
- From July 14–20, every major crypto sector, including AI and DeFi tokens, outpaced Bitcoin’s performance.
Open interest across top altcoins has reached an all-time high of $45 billion in July 2025, rising sharply from $26 billion earlier in the month. This increase in leveraged exposure comes amid rapid capital rotation from Bitcoin into the broader altcoin market.
Notably, Ethereum’s derivatives volume dominance has overtaken Bitcoin’s for the first time since the 2022 cycle low. Alongside this shift, all major crypto sectors have outperformed Bitcoin over the past week, pointing to expanding speculative participation in alternative digital assets.
Open Interest in Altcoins Surges to $45 Billion
According to on-chain data, combined open interest in major altcoins—Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and Dogecoin—has grown by $18 billion in July. The metric peaked at $45 billion, marking a record high. This uptick reflects a sharp increase in leveraged trading across the altcoin sector.
Ethereum continues to dominate the altcoin derivatives landscape, followed by SOL, XRP, and DOGE. Increasing open interest has also led to increased price volatility, as sharp moves have been witnessed in multiple tokens. Leveraged markets exaggerate profits and losses especially as liquidity tightens.
This increase in positioning follows a $216 billion rise in total altcoin market capitalization over a two-week span. The rapid inflow of capital has elevated concerns of a short-term overheated market, as leverage metrics continue climbing.
Ethereum Outpaces Bitcoin in Perpetual Volume Dominance
New data shows Ethereum’s perpetual futures volume dominance has exceeded that of Bitcoin for the first time since early 2022. ETH’s share of perpetual trading volume now stands above 60%, while Bitcoin’s has dropped below that level.
The crossover happened in the middle of July, at a time when Ethereum was particularly active. On-chain metrics indicate that ETH has shifted beyond essential resistance features such as the Active Investor Price and True Market Mean. Such breakouts have possibly contributed to the increasing demand in ETH-tied future markets.
Nevertheless, the analysts are keeping an eye on possible opposition near the point of $4,500 having drawn some historical selling pressure. With the current returns in Ethereum being mostly in favor of volume dominance, the most likely signal of active trading that can be observed is the focused attention on ETH rather than BTC at short-term trading.
Crypto Sectors Outperform Bitcoin Over the Past Week
Performance data from July 14 to July 20 reveals that every major crypto sector has outperformed Bitcoin. Among the top gainers were AI tokens, DeFi assets, exchange tokens, and ERC-20 categories. Ethereum also outpaced Bitcoin in performance during the same period.
Notably, the black-highlighted line representing sector averages shows uniform strength across altcoin season categories. Bitcoin’s performance curve remained largely flat during this interval. The deviation indicates the current capital migration to riskier components of the crypto universe. In combination with increasing leverage, this widespread sector outperformance further supports the perspective that altcoins are having liquidity drained against Bitcoin.
