Crypto Markets Bounce After CME Announces Solana Futures

Crypto markets dropped for a fifth day, recovering some losses after the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) announced that it would launch Solana (SOL) futures next month, pending regulatory approval.

"With the launch of our new SOL futures contracts, we are responding to increasing client demand for a broader set of regulated products to manage cryptocurrency price risk," said Giovanni Vicioso, Global Head of Cryptocurrency Products at CME Group.

Bitcoin rebounded above $84,000 after trading as low as $78,200 in the overnight trading session. Buoyed by the CME news, SOL surged 16% to $146 off its overnight low of $125.5. ETH and XRP dropped by 4%.

The overall crypto market capitalization is down 2% in the past 24 hours to $2.9 trillion, according to Coingecko.

Among the Top 100 digital assets, DeFi tokens are today’s biggest losers, with Maker (MKR), AAVE, Uniswap (UNI), and Lido (LDO) dropping by between 6% and 7%.

Meanwhile, Berachain (BERA) is today’s best performer with an 8% rally, followed by Celestia (TIA), which gained 6.7%.

Around 233,000 leveraged traders were liquidated for a total of $1 billion in the past 24 hours, according to CoinGlass. Bitcoin accounted for $497 million, while ETH made up $236 million.

The Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index ticked up to 16 from 10 on Feb. 27, but continues to indicate ‘Extreme Fear’ among market participants.

U.S. stocks fell for a seventh straight day as fears over a renewed trade war continue to rattle investors. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is down 5% in the past week, while the S&P 500 is down 3%.