Bitcoin held just below $65,000 on Friday as the broader crypto market edged higher, even while Brent crude climbed to $97.66 a barrel – its highest level since May – amid ongoing conflict in Iran and subdued trading in traditional financial markets.
The largest cryptocurrency was last changing hands around $64,953, up 0.87% over the past 24 hours, with investors apparently unshaken by the jump in energy prices that has previously unsettled risk assets.
Ether also advanced, adding 0.6% as major tokens showed resilience at a time when rising oil prices might typically weigh on sentiment across equities and other risk-sensitive investments.
Risk assets show resilience
Brent crude’s push towards the psychologically important $100 mark has not, so far, translated into the kind of broad-based risk-off move seen during earlier oil spikes this year.
Analysts noted that, after previous surges in energy costs triggered sharp pullbacks in cryptocurrencies, the ability of digital assets to hold their ground is one of the more encouraging signals for bullish traders in recent weeks.
The performance comes against a backdrop of muted activity in traditional markets, where uncertainty around the Iran conflict and its implications for global growth and inflation has left many investors cautious.
Mixed picture beneath headline gains
While headline indices for the crypto market showed modest gains, the recovery has disguised pockets of weakness across individual tokens.
HYPE continued its rebound, rising for a second straight session and extending a pattern of higher lows since its July pullback. The move has attracted attention from traders looking for confirmation that the token’s recent correction may be stabilising.
AI-linked tokens FET and NEAR also posted gains, adding to a recent run of advances that has seen interest in artificial intelligence narratives spill over into digital asset markets.
DeFi protocol token MORPHO extended one of the more consistent runs of the month, with its price rising 0.54% to $1.96, underlining continued appetite for decentralised finance projects despite the mixed broader backdrop.
However, several major names moved in the opposite direction over the past 24 hours. WLFI, AVAX, HBAR and SUI all recorded declines, signalling that investor appetite remains selective and that the recovery is far from uniform.
Lighter, which had rallied strongly into its July peak, has now seen its pullback deepen to nearly 20%, highlighting how quickly momentum can reverse in the more speculative corners of the market.
World Liberty Financial (WLFI) was recently trading at $0.0571, down 0.38%, adding to the sense that some newer or smaller-cap tokens are struggling to attract sustained buying interest in the current environment.
Binance maintains dominant position
Away from price action, market structure data suggests a significant repositioning since June, even as one major exchange has maintained a commanding presence.
Despite the shifts in flows and risk appetite, Binance has held on to a substantial share of the market, with around 55% of user funds and roughly 24% of spot trading volumes.
Notably, the exchange attracted net inflows in early July, at a time when the wider tracked market was experiencing net outflows, indicating that some traders and investors have been reallocating capital rather than exiting the asset class entirely.
This concentration of liquidity and user funds on Binance continues to shape trading conditions across crypto, influencing price discovery and the speed at which market sentiment translates into actual moves in individual tokens.
Outlook
The combination of steady crypto prices and surging oil suggests that, for now, digital assets are decoupling from some of the macro pressures that have previously driven sharp volatility.
However, with Brent crude edging closer to $100 and geopolitical tensions unresolved, traders remain alert to the possibility that a renewed bout of risk aversion in global markets could yet filter through to cryptocurrencies.
For the moment, though, bitcoin’s ability to remain anchored near $65,000 – and the mixed but largely stable performance across major tokens – offers cautious encouragement to bulls looking for signs that the market may be building a base after a choppy few months.
