The cryptocurrency market has entered a phase reminiscent of past altcoin seasons, primarily driven by Bitcoin's recent rebound to the $94K–$96K range. 

Altcoin season might have come with reviveding speculation 

The cryptocurrency market has entered a phase reminiscent of past altcoin seasons, primarily driven by Bitcoin's recent rebound to the $94K–$96K range. This resurgence has sparked renewed interest among retail traders, shifting focus from Bitcoin to smaller, more speculative altcoins. The overall market saw a 10% increase in value during the final eight days of April, contrasting with Bitcoin's 7% gain. This trend indicates a growing appetite for risk among investors, particularly in meme coins, which have seen a surge in social media discussions.

However, caution is warranted as elevated crowd enthusiasm often precedes market corrections. Historical patterns suggest that when buzzwords like "altseason" are dominating discussions, it may signal an impending price exhaustion. The current market dynamics reflect a shift toward speculative investments, raising concerns about the sustainability of this enthusiasm.

Bitcoin's bullish sentiment substantially improves

Bitcoin's position as the leading cryptocurrency has remained steady, with discussions around its price fluctuating significantly. Following a period of pessimism, when predictions dipped as low as $10K–$69K, sentiment shifted dramatically with the price recovery. Now, optimistic projections of $100K–$159K are dominating conversations, indicating a reversal in trader sentiment.

Despite Bitcoin's consistent presence in market discussions (approximately 25% of asset topics), the ratio of bullish-to-bearish commentary has grown increasingly favorable. This suggests a growing confidence among traders bolstered by Bitcoin's recent performance. However, it’s essential to monitor whether this bullish sentiment translates into sustained investment, or if it leads to overconfidence that may trigger a market pullback.

Ethere, once a robust contender in the altcoin arena, has struggled to regain retail investor confidence despite recent bullish commentary and promises of innovation from co-founder Vitalik Buterin. Its social media presence has dwindled to about 6–7% of discussions, a significant drop from previous years. This decline highlights the challenges Ethereum faces in re-establishing itself as a go-to investment in a market increasingly dominated by speculative assets.

Conversely, XRP has seen a notable increase in optimism surrounding ETF approvals, with expectations rising to 85%. This shift reflects a broader trend of institutional interest in cryptocurrencies, potentially paving the way for significant capital inflows. Meanwhile, Dogecoin's potential ETF listings have sparked renewed interest, transforming its image from that of a meme coin to a legitimate investment option. The growing dialogue surrounding institutional adoption of Dogecoin and XRP indicates a pivotal moment for these assets, suggesting they may play critical roles in the evolving cryptocurrency landscape.

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Bybit x Santiment social sentiment report: Altcoin sentiment recovers despite Bitcoin’s resilience

Bybit Spread Trading allows traders to simultaneously buy and sell two related instruments in order to hedge risk or profit from price discrepancies. Read more.

Whether markets are flying high or wobbling unpredictably, one thing remains true: traders are always looking for smarter ways to 

 and find profit opportunities. That’s where Bybit Spread Trading comes in. This feature is tailor-made for those who want to go beyond basic buy/sell plays and start taking advantage of price discrepancies between related instruments. In this guide, we’ll walk through exactly how Bybit Spread Trading works, why it matters and how you can start using it today, whether you’re 

is a newly launched Bybit feature that allows users to simultaneously buy and sell two related instruments — such as Spot, Perpetual or Expiry contracts with different settlement dates — in order to hedge risk or profit from price discrepancies.

This type of trading strategy is popular among institutional and professional traders because it enables more precise, controlled market exposure. However, with Bybit’s interface, the barrier to entry is significantly lowered, opening the door for individual traders to tap with just a few clicks into a powerful set of tools.

At its core, Spread Trading on Bybit is about executing what’s called a combo trade. This means entering two positions at once: one long, one short. These positions are taken on related instruments, such as a BTC Spot trade and a BTC Perpetual contract, with the idea that their prices will either converge or diverge in a way that benefits your position.

When you place a buy combo, you’re buying the instrument with the longer expiration (the “far leg”) and selling the one that expires sooner (the “near leg”). 

A sell combo is the reverse: selling the far leg and buying the near leg. The profit (or loss) comes from how the spread between these two instruments shifts over time.

For example, if you believe the spread between a Perpetual and a Quarterly Futures contract will widen, you can buy the combo. If the spread increases after your entry, that movement becomes your profit. Bybit calculates your 

 prices automatically, based on the mark prices and your defined “order price,” so there’s no need to manually crunch the numbers.

Perhaps the most important feature here is atomic execution. This ensures both sides of your combo trade are filled together, in equal quantities, or the trade doesn’t go through at all. It removes “leg risk,” which is the danger of getting filled on one side of the trade, but not the other. In volatile markets, that alone can save you from an unwanted mess.

Spread Trading on Bybit currently supports combinations such as Spot and Perpetual, Spot and Expiry, Perpetual and Expiry, or even two Expiry contracts with different dates. This flexibility lets you build strategies that align with different market outlooks — bullish, bearish or neutral.

There’s a strong reason why Spread Trading is a go-to for many experienced traders: it allows for strategic plays that are more sophisticated than just guessing price direction. On Bybit, it’s not only powerful, but also convenient.

First, you get price certainty. Your spread is locked in at the price you specify. There’s no 

 between legs because the entry prices are automatically calculated and matched. You’re trading the spread, not the individual legs.

Secondly, the trading experience is smoother. Instead of placing two separate orders and manually trying to sync them, Bybit handles everything as a single transaction. You don’t have to worry about whether one leg gets filled and the other doesn’t — that risk is eliminated through atomic execution.

Third, this setup is a great hedge against volatility. By taking opposing positions on two related contracts, you reduce exposure to sharp price movements. Your P&L becomes more about the relative performance between contracts, rather than the market direction itself.

There’s also a strong cost advantage. Trading spreads on Bybit is significantly cheaper than doing it manually. You pay only half the trading fees you’d incur if you placed two individual trades on the order book. For high-volume or 

, that translates to meaningful savings over time.

Finally, it unlocks strategy flexibility. Whether you're 

 funding rates between Spot and Perpetual, doing 

 with different Futures contracts or taking advantage of price convergence before expiry, this platform gives you the tools to execute those ideas efficiently.

How to get started with Bybit Spread Trading 

Now that you have a better understanding of how Bybit Spread Trading works, let’s look into how to get started. Please note that you’ll need to have a Bybit account in order to proceed. If you don’t already have one, please check out our 

 for more information on how to create a Bybit account.

: Log in to your Bybit account and hover your cursor over the 

: The available spreads are organized in a grid, with each tile representing a unique combo. Choose your preferred combo to trade.

Tiles with a border around them signify that Spread Trading offers a better price. Hover over a tile for more details, or use the bar at the bottom of the grid to explore more options.

On the order placement page, set up your order with the following parameters:

to place your order. A pop-up window will appear for you to confirm your order details. Then, click on 

Congratulations — you’ve successfully placed an order!

You can view your Spread Trading orders from any trading page (Spread Trading, Spot and Futures), as they all share the same order data.

 to view your active orders. You’ll be able to view the combo, underlying asset, order price and more. 

If you would like to adjust your order parameters, you may click on the pencil icon under 

. To cancel your order, simply click on the order’s corresponding 

to view your completed orders. To view each order’s information on each leg, click on the order’s corresponding 

button. For additional insights, click on 

Spread trading isn’t for everyone — but if you’re someone who enjoys strategic trading, hedging or arbitrage, it’s a tool worth adding to your arsenal. It appeals to traders who are less interested in taking a directional bet, and more focused on capitalizing on inefficiencies in the market.

You don’t have to be a pro trader to benefit, either. The simplified execution and intuitive UI mean even intermediate users can explore advanced strategies without being overwhelmed. As long as you understand how spreads work, and how your P&L is affected by their movement, you’re already halfway there.

More importantly, in times of market uncertainty or low volatility — when price action feels sluggish — spread trading gives you an alternative way to profit. It keeps you in the game — even when momentum plays aren’t cutting it.

Bybit Spread Trading is a powerful tool that combines simplicity with sophistication. Whether you're looking to hedge, save on fees or experiment with 

 strategies, it offers a clean and user-friendly way to do so. With lower risk, lower costs and plenty of flexibility, Bybit Spread Trading is a smart move for any trader looking to level up their game — especially when markets get messy.

Intermediate

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Bybit Spread Trading: Smart strategies for market swings

Our weekly crypto derivatives analytics report delves into macro events; the current state of crypto and trading signals from spot trading volume; and futures, options and perpetual contracts.

Positive sentiment around potential US trade deals has fueled a sixth straight day of gains in risk-on assets. Bitcoin, boosted by this sentiment and its own drivers, such as strong ETF inflows and regulatory progress, has outperformed gold and equities, rising 14% over the past month and consolidating at $94K. Bitcoin’s implied volatility has decreased significantly, while realized volatility has stabilized above 30%, a level that’s been its floor for the past 18 months.

Please check out the report’s highlights.

Perp at months’ high; traders not yet all-in

After rallying from $75,000 to over $95,000 in early April, Bitcoin has traded sideways at around $94,000 this week. Open interest remains stable for April, near all-time highs at $8B, while trade volumes have decreased to $10B per day. Lower trade volumes correlate with lower realized volatility, and perp positioning suggests that traders are waiting for another rally before committing to major positions, mindful of recent sell-offs.

Bitcoin volatility declines to 18-month low

Bitcoin’s volatility has declined, nearing a previously held floor of 35–40%, a level from which it has consistently rebounded over the past 18 months. Implied volatility has followed a 10-point drop in realized volatility to just above 30%, the floor of its 18-month range. Options activity shows a preference for puts, as BTC’s spot price is remaining stable. Volatility smile skews favor out-of-the-money calls, particularly for long-term options, while short-term options are nearly neutral.

BTC volatility smiles skew toward OTM calls

Bitcoin's volatility smiles now favor out-of-the-money (OTM) calls across all tenors, recovering from a put-call skew that strongly favored puts earlier in April. Ether is showing a similar recovery at short tenors, but longer-term skew remains slightly bearish. While ETH funding rates are positive, longer-term option smiles are skewing toward puts, thus presenting mixed sentiment. For BTC, derivatives markets are indicating clearer bullish signals, including positive funding rate spikes, positively sloped futures yields and a skew toward OTM calls.

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Bybit X Block Scholes crypto derivatives analytics report (Apr 30, 2025): Bitcoin volatility at 18-month low; data shows traders aren’t yet all-in

Grayscale has launched the Bitcoin Adopters ETF, which tracks companies with a corporate Bitcoin treasury strategy. 

Daily top performer — Curve Finance (CRV)

The S&P 500 rose 0.15% as investors shrugged off recession fears and reacted positively to strong tech earnings, with focus now shifting to upcoming Apple and Amazon results. Gold dropped to $3,245 on US-China trade optimism and a stronger dollar, with Fed rate cut hopes cushioning losses. The Coindesk Indices, which tracks the broader crypto market, fell 0.51%, with Bitcoin and Ether down 1.24% and 0.86%, respectively in the past 24 hours. Trade these markets and more with up to 500x leverage on Bybit MT5 using this 

Today's top performer is CRV, which surged 11.4% after Spark's integration of new Curve pools, enhancing stablecoin liquidity and improving DeFi infrastructure.

Curve Finance (CRV), launched in 2020, is a DEX on Ethereum for low-fee swaps between stablecoins and similar assets, with yield-earning pools and DAO governance via the CRV token. Spark has 

 sUSDS/USDT and USDC/USDT Curve pools to its Spark Liquidity Layer (SLL), boosting stablecoin liquidity, enabling easier swaps, and supporting future direct USDT deposits and withdrawals via Spark Savings.

Check out the latest prices, charts, and data of 

 the Bitcoin Adopters ETF, which tracks companies with a corporate Bitcoin treasury strategy. The ETF includes firms like Tesla, Blockstream, and MARA. It reflects the growing trend of companies acquiring Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation. Grayscale's fund aims to provide exposure to companies in sectors like mining, automotive, and energy. Institutional BTC adoption, including Michael Saylor's Strategy, is driving Bitcoin's scarcity, which may lead to a supply crunch and rising Bitcoin prices in the future.

Yesterday, BTC spot ETFs saw $323.3M in outflows, with $32M from GBTC and $291.3M from other ETFs.

 its largest Galxe points event, running from May 4–8, 2025, where users can complete tasks to earn points. They also introduced the AlphaWave competition, a 7-day AI trading contest featuring 25 crypto agents. Users can vote for the agent they think will win to earn rewards and complete Galxe quests. New tasks will be added throughout the week.

Beginner

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Grayscale launches Bitcoin Adopters ETF, tracking companies with BTC treasury strategies

Bybit Learn

Minting NFTs require gas fees to incentivize miners who validate and add transactions to the blockchain. But how does the fee impact NFT buyers & sellers? Learn more here.

 (NFTs) and crypto collectibles peaked considerably following the sale of a digital image collage entitled "Everydays: The First 5000 Days" at Christie's, the famous auction house, for a record-breaking $69.3 million. The NFT, created by Mike Winkelmann, a digital artist popularly known as Beeple, set a new record for a digital-only artwork and became the third most expensive artwork by a living artist to be sold at an auction. 

The ensuing popularity of NFTs attracted flocks of creators and artists who see blockchain-based technology as a means of monetizing their talents. Of course, the NFT market quickly proliferated, and thousands of digital files exchanged hands daily. Nevertheless, buying, selling and transferring NFTs typically comes with a transaction cost — namely, gas fees. 

If you’d like to trade NFTs, you may wonder what NFT gas fees are and why they’re necessary. This article will help you understand how NFT gas fees work, why fees are required, and how to calculate them. 

 is the charge that users pay to transact on the Ethereum blockchain. Gas is used to compensate miners for the computing energy and resources expended to validate transactions and to include them in the blockchain. In other words, gas fees are a reflection of the amount of computational power required to record a transaction on the Ethereum blockchain network.

, which are minute fractions of Ether (ETH), the native token of the Ethereum network. A unit of gwei is equivalent to one billionth of Ether — that is, 1 nanoether, or 0.000000001 ETH.

Gas prices fluctuate, depending on the complexity of a transaction and traffic on the network. Naturally, a transaction requiring more computational power will demand higher fees. Also, transacting during peak periods with plenty of traffic on the Ethereum network will attract heftier fees.

Gas fees can be compared to a cargo transport truck service, where the goods are transactions. The heavier the goods transported from point A to B, the more fuel or gas will be expended. At the same time, if the road is congested, the trucks also use up more fuel to get to their destination. The truck service will also prioritize moving the goods of customers who are willing to pay more than the base price.

Artists and creators know that dealing with NFTs on the Ethereum network can be expensive due to gas fees. But they understand that NFT gas fees are the price to pay to create, sell and buy NFTs. Of course, this has a significant impact on NFT creators and artists. So, what do gas fees mean for artists?

Contrary to popular belief, NFTs don't always sell for six figures. Most sell moderately, for a few hundred dollars, and many may not be sold at all. Considering that you have to pay gas fees to create and sell your NFT, you may lose money rather than make a profit. To make matters worse, it's not easy to predict what you'll be paying for gas since the price keeps changing.

High gas prices mean artists may find it challenging to profitably create and sell their work profitably. To make their artwork-related NFTs more affordable when gas prices spike, some artists may attempt to reduce the overall price of the artwork to compensate for the cost of gas. This, however, presents a new challenge, as buyers may perceive the work to be of less value — since they have to decide if it's worth spending a larger percentage of the total cost on gas fees. 

Gas prices are unrelated to the absolute value of the digital asset, and in some cases may outstrip the price of the assets put up for sale. This is especially difficult for new and upcoming artists who haven’t yet established name recognition for themselves.

Essentially, an artist without a solid enough reputation might find it difficult to sell their art when they overcharge to attract higher prices. 

Minting an NFT describes the process of converting digital files into digital assets stored on the blockchain. Like every other transaction on the Ethereum blockchain, minting an NFT requires resource-intensive computations from miners. Gas fees were conceived of as a way to compensate miners for helping to record your transaction on the blockchain (and, in this case, mint the NFT). 

For the artist, minting the NFT is relatively easy, a bit like uploading a video onto YouTube. Once you’ve uploaded the file, you have to approve the gas fee, which will come from your digital wallet. When you’ve paid the fee, the minting process will start.

Because gas fees aren’t directly related to the value of the NFT, sellers and buyers of digital art can lose money on a transaction. In other words, your costs could exceed what you get — or pay — for the NFT.

Why Does Minting an NFT Require Gas Fees?

Minting is the act of creating an NFT on a blockchain. Because blockchains are decentralized networks not owned by a central authority, they’re maintained by miners who mint NFTs. Miners use their own computing power, and in return they expect a payment to cover their time and resources. 

Gas fees help keep the blockchain running by incentivizing the miners who validate and add user transactions to the blockchain. Since they get paid for the work, miners will strive to make more in gas fees, thereby increasing the network's security. Greater incentive means that miners are more willing to expend resources validating transactions to secure the blockchain. This also optimizes transaction speed, since more computational resources will be dedicated to mining operations.

The costs for minting an NFT fall under the following categories:

Prices differ from blockchain to blockchain. There are even price differences between transactions on a single blockchain. These fees are dependent on several factors, including the amount of data used, the speed of the transaction and the time of day. 

The cost to mint an NFT ranges widely. When converted to fiat, the cost can vary from $1 up to $500 or more. Creators can choose from several NFT marketplaces, with each platform charging different fees. 

Ethereum has become more expensive in recent years, a victim of its own popularity. The network has limited capacity, and the more people who use the platform, the more crowded it becomes. Since the gas fee depends on supply and demand, costs have climbed. 

Currently, the Ethereum gas fee is made up of a 

. The base fee is burned and the tip is paid to the miner. 

Total transaction fee = Gas Units (Limit) × (Base Fee + Tip)

With a gas limit of 21,000, base fee of 100 gwei and a tip of 20 gwei, the total fee is 2,520,000 gwei, or 0.00252 ETH. This would be equivalent to around $7.49 (at $2,971.81 for one ETH).

Minting NFTs on Ethereum can be expensive. NFT minting gas fees fluctuate due to demand on the network and the current price of ETH. The gas fees peak during periods of high demand as users compete to get their transactions added to blocks. Aside from the gas fee, some NFT marketplaces also charge a small fee for listing and transaction fees which are a percentage of the cost of the traded NFT. 

Historically, costs for minting an NFT have even reached $500

NFT marketplaces such as Rarible and OpenSea offer artists the option of 

, which allows you to put off minting (adding) your NFT to the blockchain until someone buys it. Lazy minting lowers the barriers to entry for creators. This is especially useful for artists new to the field, since they don’t yet know how well their works will sell. 

Using lazy minting, the artist can defer payment to the time of sale. The gas fee is deducted on the same transaction as the sale, and the buyer typically pays the gas fees instead of the seller or creator. Otherwise, you can choose regular minting, which means that you'll pay gas fees every time someone wants to buy your token.

There is no lazy minting option on the Solana blockchain, but the gas fees are a lot less expensive than Ethereum’s.

Though Ethereum is the most popular of the blockchains, it’s not the only one that mints and stores NFTs. There are others, including 

Solana has grown in popularity, and could even 

 as the leading blockchain network. It’s currently the second-largest blockchain by transaction volume behind Ethereum. 

Unlike Ethereum, fees don’t typically increase because of network congestion. Fees on Solana are also significantly lower than those on Ethereum. 

Creators incur three blockchain transactions when minting an NFT on Solana. There are two approval transactions and another for listing the NFT. Each transaction on Solana costs around 0.00045 SOL, which was around $.04 at the beginning of March 2022. 

The gas fee is independent of the price of an NFT. Pricing for an NFT is related to supply and demand, dependent on what the buyer is willing to pay for the asset. 

This is why an artist can lose money when minting an NFT. If the gas fees are high and the digital artwork doesn’t sell well, the creator could take a loss. 

The Sending and Selling of NFTs Require Gas Fees

There are fees involved in selling NFTs, which can include transaction fees and gas fees.

New sellers are often unaware of the costs, so they sometimes end up losing money. Transferring NFTs should be cheaper than minting them. Costs vary by marketplace, so it’s important to check before transacting. At the moment, OpenSea is the single largest generator of gas fees.

Gas fees change throughout the day. The actual gas fee is determined by supply and demand and is set by miners. 

The gas fee that you pay will depend on transaction complexity, the price of related cryptocurrencies, and the amount of traffic on the network. 

The minimum transaction fee is 21,000 GWEI. Since one GWEI is a billionth of an ETH, the least you can expect to pay is 0.0021 ETH. Multiply that by the current price of ETH to get the minimum transaction cost.

Smart contracts and NFTs will cost a lot more than the minimum of 21,000 GWEI. This is due to their complexity and the amount of computational power needed to transact. NFT transactions are much faster when you’re willing to pay higher gas fees. However, when the network is busy, the gas fees are bid up as users attempt to expedite their transactions. 

Thrifty users who can wait will often transact over the weekend, or at quieter trading times during the day, in order to save on gas fees. Some platforms will allow you to set a gas fee limit, and will perform the transaction when the fees are low enough. If you can wait for an undefined period when the prices drop, this may be an option for you. 

It’s easy to check the current price of gas fees on the internet using a 

A gas limit is a cap you set on the amount of ether that a transaction can consume. The risk you run when you set this limit is that the transaction may be rejected. Setting a low limit could save you money if your transaction isn’t time-sensitive.

If you set the gas limit at an amount higher than needed, you’ll receive a refund for the excess funds. If, on the other hand, you set the limit too low, you could lose the money if your transaction fails. You may also wait a long time before a miner is willing to conduct your transaction.

NFTs have skyrocketed in popularity in recent times and have given many artists and creators digital wings. Blockchain technology offers them new markets where they can ply their trade. These marketplaces do, however, come with costs, and unless the artists understand the costs of minting and selling, they could lose money. 

Artists can set gas limits, or trade when the market is quiet, to save on gas fees. New creators can make use of the lazy minting option and pay when the NFT is sold. Those who know the tricks of the trade can lower their costs on their way to making it big on the blockchain.

NFT Gas Fee: What It Is & How to Calculate It

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