The crypto market trended lower on Monday as traders braced for potential signals from the Federal Reserve’s upcoming Jackson Hole speech, while U.S. stock index futures remained relatively stable ahead of a high-level political meeting concerning Ukraine’s future.

Volatility has decreased across various asset classes, including cryptocurrencies, with traders eyeing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s upcoming comments at Jackson Hole. The market speculates that Powell might hint at the initiation of interest rate cuts as early as September, which could have wide-reaching financial implications.

Shifting Sentiment Across Crypto Tokens

Leading cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) registered losses, continuing a downtrend from the past weekend. However, Chainlink’s LINK token proved resilient, remaining largely unaffected by the broader sell-off. Meanwhile, Solana demonstrated a significant technical breakthrough with a major boost in transaction throughput, strengthening its appeal for developers and users alike.

On the regulatory front, optimism rose after Japan announced plans to greenlight its first yen-pegged stablecoin by Q3. Stakeholders believe this move could significantly impact Asia’s digital finance landscape. As Mena Theodorou, co-founder of Coinstash exchange, emphasized, markets are shifting from hype-driven investment to strategic positioning in what’s swiftly becoming a mature ecosystem.

Derivatives Show Bearish Momentum

Recent analysis of derivatives markets reveals key shifts in investor behavior:

• Bitcoin futures open interest (OI) has ballooned to 720,000 BTC — the highest since August 2 — despite continued price declines, suggesting deeper investor engagement in bearish positions.
• Funding rates for BTC and ETH are weakening, supporting the view that negative sentiment is building across major tokens.
• Ethereum’s OI has reached 14.34 million ETH, also a recent high, paralleling Bitcoin’s trend.
• LINK has defied broader weakness; its open interest hit a record of 68.13 million LINK with annualized funding rates nearing 10%, hinting at intensified investor interest in potential upside moves.
• Solana futures on the CME have surged past 4.6 million SOL, though the premium on three-month futures has slipped from 35% to just 15%, indicating waning bullish expectations.
• Meanwhile, open interest in CME Bitcoin futures lags behind July highs, highlighting reduced institutional participation since late last year, even though BTC spot prices hit new peaks.

Traders appear to be preparing for further downside scenarios. On Deribit, put options have become more popular, particularly for November contracts, as participants seek coverage against more losses. For Ethereum, the short-dated horizon is showing growing bearish inclination.

• A notable short strangle block trade — involving $4.4K puts and $4.7K calls — was executed, netting a $680,000 premium, based on an assumed trading range of $4,040–$5,020.
• In Bitcoin options, a significant Sept. 25 put purchase at a $110,000 strike suggests that some traders are bracing for a major downturn.

Token Highlights and Whale Activity

Solana continues to lead in ecosystem growth and transparency:

• On-chain liquidations of $37.4 million SOL during the sell-off exceeded those on centralized exchanges, where $20.9 million SOL was liquidated. This underlines the growing role of decentralized platforms like Drift and Hyperliquid in perpetual futures trading.
• Open interest on Hyperliquid reached a record $1.2 billion, even as activity on Binance dipped. Aggregate open interest nears $5 billion, with whales divided: 59 long positions versus 70 short.
• Stablecoin inflows into Solana have exceeded $12 billion, with a large share coming from Ethereum, and ecosystem fees are back above $1 million daily as protocols like Jupiter, Jito, and Kamino gain traction.

Solana achieved a record transaction speed milestone, highlighting growing usage under stress tests.

Meanwhile, activity in meme tokens remains robust. A whale moved 3 trillion Shiba Inu (SHIB), valued at approximately $38 million, from Coinbase Institutional to cold storage, signaling a long-term holding strategy. This wallet had no prior transaction history, drawing attention from on-chain analysts.

The transfer occurred as SHIB’s burn rate skyrocketed nearly 2,000% within 24 hours, with 4.7 million tokens destroyed — contributing to the community’s deflationary goals. Developers also gear up for SHIB’s cross-chain expansion using Chainlink’s CCIP. Plans are in motion for new developer infrastructure and a decentralized exchange (DEX) to strengthen liquidity.

Related: XRP Price: $12M Max Pain for Bears

SHIB’s price remains relatively stable around $0.000013, with technical indicators suggesting the possibility of a gradual upward trajectory.