DeFiLlama’s Movers tool shows August’s crypto winners fading as yields climb

DeFiLlama’s Movers dashboard is showing an increase in divergence in the crypto world. Some of the tokens which were responsible for the rise in August are well above their competitors in 30 days, but some of them are beginning to lose ground in the last seven days.

This is important because this weakness is manifesting itself in the strongest momentum trades in the market rather than the overall crypto market of large capitalization.

This instrument included in the DeFiLlama’s token rankings can show users the performance of the top 100, 200 or 300 assets for the 24-hour, 7-day and 30-day periods. The September 12 update displays that Zcash (ZEC), Uniswap (UNI), Hyperliquid (HYPE), XRP and Solana (SOL) have still shown a better result over the last month than Bitcoin.

Where the winners and laggards split

ZEC has set itself apart as the only one with positive performance over both time frames under consideration. HYPE, UNI and XRP on the other hand despite their impressive numbers on monthly basis have turned out negative for past week. SOL only gained modestly over the week, while Bitcoin is also in decline.

This divergence is all the more interesting in view of the strong altcoin trend reported by Cryptopolitan at the beginning of September in the midst of 83 out of top 100 alternative currencies closing August with profits. The leading assets of the period turned out to be ZEC, HYPE, SOL and Pump.fun as liquidity shifted to established coins with active use cases.

The composition of the August upswing of Bitcoin also tells you certain things. According to DeFiLlama Research, daily spot volume experienced a 153% surge during the breakout compared to 109% for perpetuals; meanwhile, open interest in Bitcoin has fallen. This shows that new capital has played a more significant role in the breakout than mere leverage.

The recent Movers data will now determine how much of that demand can survive an adverse interest rate environment.

Why the rate backdrop matters

According to Binance Research, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization increased by 17.6% in August to $2.70 trillion, although the firm viewed part of the rise as a reaction to interest rate fluctuations. The hawkish speech of Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh in Jackson Hole on August 28 eliminated about 60% of price adjustments in the market for September in one go, with the odds of interest hikes shifting towards 60%.

The situation has worsened since then. According to a report by Reuters on September 11, the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond was close to 4.93% after the CPI for August went up by 0.4% in relation to the previous month and by 3.4% in relation to the previous year. Inflation indices were in line with predictions, and borrowing remained close to around 5%, which raises concerns in risk markets.

The Head of Research at CoinShares, James Butterfill, has described the latest developments with Bitcoin as follows:

“Bitcoin has traded increasingly like gold over the last couple of weeks as the debasement trade has returned to the fore.” — James Butterfill, CoinShares Head of Research

According to Butterfill, the monetary policy still remains the primary issue in this regard. While worries about the US government’s fiscal sustainability may favor Bitcoin, the tightening of monetary policy may reduce appetite for risk.

Profit-taking or the start of a reversal?

For now, the evidence looks more like a selective unwind in momentum trades than a market-wide flush. Glassnode’s Week 37 report found Bitcoin near $79,100 as futures open interest moved above its upper statistical band, capital inflows strengthened and 69.3% of coins remained in profit. Price was relatively flat even as leverage and profit-taking increased.

Supply can also magnify weakness in smaller tokens. Tokenomist found a median 14.7% decline relative to Bitcoin in the month before scheduled unlocks across its sample, although the effect was concentrated in early-stage, thin-float tokens. More established and liquid assets showed no significant unlock effect.

That distinction matters. If weekly losses continue spreading across August’s biggest winners while Bitcoin holds up better, the move would still look like rotation out of crowded trades. If Bitcoin begins weakening alongside them while yields stay elevated, the same momentum unwind could develop into a broader risk-off retreat.