Bitcoin’s early-week rally faltered as heavy ETF outflows, aggressive derivatives deleveraging, and weak altcoin reactions dragged the broader crypto market lower. During the European morning session, Bitcoin (BTC) slipped to $91,200, down from a weekly high of $94,200 hit on Wednesday.
The sell-off remained largely confined to crypto. U.S. equities were mostly flat in pre-market trading, while the FTSE 100 rose 0.15%, highlighting the localized nature of the downturn.
The pressure is attributed to record withdrawals from BlackRock’s IBIT Bitcoin ETF, which saw another $113 million exit on Thursday, as bulls struggled to reclaim market control. The Fear & Greed Index remains subdued at 25/100, continuing a streak below neutral levels after over a month of bearish sentiment.
Derivatives positioning
BTC futures markets reflect sustained caution and active deleveraging. Open interest (OI) has fallen to $21 billion from $25 billion a month ago, signaling reduced leverage and risk exposure. Market metrics remain muted, with the three-month annualized basis stable at 4%-5% and funding rates holding at 5%-6%.
BTC options maintain a bullish bias despite lower volatility. Short-term implied volatility has shifted from backwardation to contango, pointing to reduced expectations for extreme price swings. Call options dominate, with 57% of 24-hour option volume in calls, and the one-week 25-delta skew has risen slightly to 8%, showing traders are still paying for short-term upside exposure.
Recent BTC volatility caused $280 million in liquidations over 24 hours, including $200 million in longs, with ETH ($88 million) and BTC ($85 million) leading in nominal liquidations.
Altcoin market update
The BTC/USDT liquidation heatmap on Binance shows significant long liquidations around $90,600, a critical support level to monitor.
Altcoins broadly fell, with TAO, HYPE, and NEAR losing over 6.5%. Ethereum (ETH) retraced 2.62% from its daily high following the Fusaka upgrade, showing that even anticipated bullish catalysts are failing to move the market.
The CoinDesk 20 (CD20) index mirrored ETH’s decline, while CDMEME, CoinDesk’s memecoin index, dropped 5.8%. CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season indicator remains at 21/100, underscoring traders’ preference for Bitcoin and stablecoins.
Exceptions included Zcash (ZEC) at $339.73, up 4.7%, bouncing from an oversold RSI condition, and TRX, up 1.8%, showing strength across daily, weekly, and monthly charts.
