Gold, Oil and Stock Perps Hit 60% of Bitcoin Trading
Perpetual contracts on gold, oil and stocks traded $55.3 billion in a week, up 26.2%, and Talos says traders used 24/7 markets to trade an AI selloff and earnings.
Key Takeaways
1Traditional-asset perps: 60.3% of Bitcoin perp volume
2SK Hynix perp volume up 75% on Hyperliquid
3SpaceX perp rose 8.5% before U.S. open
4Bitcoin futures open interest up 6% to $47.9B
Talos published the figures in its State of the Market report on October 22, covering trading from October 15 to 21.
An AI selloff sent traders to 24/7 contracts
AI and memory stocks sold off across Asian and U.S. markets on Friday, after September inflation of 3.7% and a 10-year Treasury yield above 5% put the cost of debt-funded AI spending in focus. CoreWeave fell about 25% as its bond yields neared 16%. Tech later recovered part of the losses, leaving the Nasdaq 100 down 0.4% for the week Talos covers.
Contracts that trade around the clock drew the activity. Volume in traditional-asset perpetuals rose 26.2% to $55.3 billion, which Talos attributes to perps becoming a way to trade the AI volatility and earnings. Hyperliquid was the fastest-growing futures venue, with volume up 17.4%, while total futures volume tracked by Talos rose 4.8% to $1.03 trillion.
The $55.3 billion equalled 60.3% of Bitcoin perpetual volume over the same week. That compares turnover in the markets Talos tracks; it is not a share of all crypto derivatives trading.
Gold
$11.5B
SpaceX on Binance
$8.9B +35.8%
Crude
$6.6B +25.9%
Those three exposures accounted for about $27 billion, close to half the weekly total. Memory stocks drew the sharpest increases: SK Hynix perp volume on Hyperliquid rose 75% and Micron perp volume on Binance 22% as the sector fell.
SpaceX’s earnings were priced before the opening bell
SpaceX reported third-quarter results after the U.S. market closed on Tuesday while the revenue grew 161%.
The perpetuals traded through the night. Binance’s SPCX contract rose 8.5% by Wednesday’s U.S. open, and SpaceX perps on Binance and Hyperliquid traded about $5.6 billion, more than eight times the previous day’s volume. That event figure is separate from Binance’s $8.9 billion weekly total.
Two details show how traders used the contract. Volume peaked in the hour spanning the U.S. open, when the stock itself began trading, so the regular session still drew the heaviest activity. Open interest, the value of positions still outstanding, fell about 8% from the earnings release. Heavy trading alongside fewer open positions suggests traders took positions around the news and then closed them, instead of building long-term exposure.
Holding through that overnight window has its own costs. Funding payments accrue for every period a position stays open, and margin and liquidation rules apply while the stock market is shut, as Talos’s guide to perpetuals infrastructure describes.
Bitcoin stayed calm
| Gauge | Equities | Bitcoin |
|---|---|---|
| Volatility | VIX up 21% at Friday’s close | Implied volatility index comparatively calm |
| Weekly move | Nasdaq 100 down 0.4% | Up 3.3%, above $84,000 on Wednesday |
The equity fear gauge faded quickly, with the VIX gapping back to about 18.4 by Monday. Crypto-linked shares took more of the hit than Bitcoin did: Strategy, Coinbase and Circle fell alongside miners.
Bitcoin positioning grew alongside the traditional-asset activity. Futures open interest rose 6% to $47.9 billion, with funding at 5.4% annualized, a mild bias toward longs. The figures show no sign of traders abandoning Bitcoin to trade stocks and commodities.
What comes next
Talos points to two events ahead.
28
Fed decision. With Bitcoin’s 30-day correlation to the Nasdaq at 0.6, Talos says its resilience faces a test here.
Weeks
Big-tech earnings. Each report is another overnight event for stock perps, and investors will watch whether AI spending is turning into revenue and profit.
Together they will show whether traditional-asset perp volume holds near $55 billion after earnings season or fades with the volatility that accompanied it.
This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Perpetual derivatives involve funding, margin and liquidation risks. Figures cover Talos’s stated period and tracked markets.
Kosta has reported on cryptocurrency markets and blockchain infrastructure since 2020, bringing over six years of hands-on experience in the crypto industry built through daily tracking of markets, trends, and emerging blockchain developments. Specializing in Bitcoin on-chain analysis, institutional ETF flows, and digital asset price action, his work at Coindoo has been cited by other news agencies and consistently covers market developments with a focus on data-driven reporting across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. Over the years, Kosta has contributed to multiple crypto media outlets in different regions, authoring over 6,000 articles across the sector. His reporting spans cryptocurrency markets and the broader fintech industry, tracking not only price action but also the technological and regulatory forces shaping the ecosystem. To support his analysis, Kosta actively leverages on-chain data and metrics from leading platforms such as Santiment, Glassnode, and CryptoQuant, enabling deeper, evidence-based market insights. He believes in the power of transparency and the data that underpins the blockchain ecosystem. His academic background in Marketing Management from Denmark further complements his analytical approach, adding a strong understanding of communication strategy and content positioning to his work.
