Bitcoin held steady above $62,500 while ether stayed near $1,665, but subdued price action and a widening put-option bias suggest bearish control is still firmly intact.
The crypto market remained under pressure on Wednesday, with Bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) each edging down less than 0.4% since midnight UTC. The CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) fell 0.9%, with 18 of its constituents finishing in negative territory.
The lack of any meaningful rebound is becoming a key concern, particularly as U.S. equity futures tried to stabilize after Tuesday’s tech-driven selloff.
Even so, a few altcoins moved against the trend, with Jupiter (JUP) and Monero (XMR) rising 2% to 4%, showing that selective risk appetite has not fully disappeared despite weak broader conditions.
Bitcoin now faces a critical test around the $60,000 level. A break below it could shift price action back into a range last seen in late 2024, with $52,000 emerging as an important downside target.
Derivatives positioning
Derivatives activity has cooled, with trading volume falling 27% to $141 billion over the past 24 hours, while open interest rose 2% to $106 billion. Liquidations totaled $158 million, marking a two-week low.
BTC futures open interest remains stable at roughly 730,000 BTC for the eighth straight day, signaling consolidation.
ETH futures, however, show renewed activity, with open interest climbing to 14.3 million ETH—its highest in two weeks and up from a recent low of 13.74 million. This came as ETH dropped from around $1,780 to $1,650 over two days, a setup often associated with shorting into weakness.
Funding rates remain slightly positive, but negative 24-hour cumulative volume delta (CVD) indicates sellers are dominating through aggressive market orders rather than passive bidding.
SOL futures continue to heat up, with open interest reaching a record 77.68 million tokens. Yet negative funding and CVD readings suggest the increase is largely driven by fresh short positioning.
ZEC, in contrast, is cooling rapidly, with open interest falling to 2 million tokens from around 2.55 million last month.
Across the top 25 tokens, bearish positioning is increasingly dominant, reflected in negative OI-adjusted CVDs for a second consecutive session.
Bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility index (BVIV) has eased to 43% from nearly 48%, with ether volatility showing a similar decline.
On Deribit, one-week options skew has widened sharply to 10.9 volatility points in favor of puts, up from about 7 points, signaling growing downside protection demand. One-month skew has also expanded.
Block activity on Paradigm included a $62,000 strike straddle expiring July 3, typically used to position for elevated volatility in either direction.
Token performance
While Monero (XMR) and Jupiter (JUP) posted gains, several tokens including Ethena (ENA), Pump (PUMP), and Stellar (XLM) fell between 2.2% and 3.5%.
Ethena has now lost more than 90% of its value from its peak of $0.87 last September, highlighting the strain on yield strategies that depend on sustained bullish funding conditions.
Similar weakness is evident in legacy assets like Litecoin (LTC) and Cardano (ADA), both of which remain well below their 2021 highs and entrenched in long-term downtrends.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) continues to strengthen, nearing its May 2025 peak. A firmer dollar typically weighs on crypto and other risk assets as investors rotate toward safer holdings.
