Bitcoin, Ether Slide as Crypto Stocks Retreat; Precious Metals Rally
Bitcoin and ether extended their losses over the past 24 hours, pressuring crypto-linked equities even as gold and silver moved higher.
Bitcoin fell 2.4% to trade near $66,900, while ether dropped 2.7%, slipping back below the $2,000 mark. The broader CoinDesk 20 Index declined 3.7%, reflecting widespread weakness across major digital assets.
The downturn spilled into equities tied to the sector. Coinbase shares fell roughly 4% in pre-market trading, while Bullish — the parent company of CoinDesk — declined 2.3%. Bitcoin treasury firms Strategy (MSTR) and Strive (ASST) also lost about 2.3%. Robinhood slid 4.7% after reporting a 38% drop in fourth-quarter crypto revenue.
In contrast, precious metals advanced. Gold climbed approximately 0.9% to $5,070 per ounce, while silver surged more than 5%. The move followed weaker-than-expected U.S. retail sales data, which pointed to slowing consumer demand and boosted expectations for monetary easing.
The U.S. dollar weakened and Treasury yields declined as traders reassessed the outlook for Federal Reserve rate cuts. On prediction markets, the probability of a March rate cut has increased sharply — rising from 7% at the start of the month to roughly 19% on Polymarket and 21% on Kalshi.
Derivatives Positioning Signals Caution
Bearish momentum in bitcoin derivatives appears to be intensifying. Open interest in BTC futures has fallen to $15.6 billion, suggesting continued deleveraging.
Funding rates have turned more negative, particularly on Binance (-6%) and Bybit (-0.50%), while the three-month futures basis has compressed to 1.6%, indicating waning institutional demand.
In options markets, defensive positioning remains elevated. The one-week 25-delta skew has risen to 23%, signaling strong demand for downside protection. At the same time, calls account for 55% of open interest, suggesting some traders may be attempting to position for a rebound.
Implied volatility across maturities remains relatively stable, leaving the term structure in a hybrid state between backwardation and contango — a sign that near-term hedging demand remains elevated while longer-term volatility expectations have steadied.
According to Coinglass, total liquidations over the past 24 hours reached $297 million, with long positions accounting for 77% of the total. Bitcoin led with $121 million in liquidations, followed by ether at $89 million and other assets at $16 million. Binance’s liquidation heatmap identifies $66,100 as a key level to watch if prices fall further.
Token Developments
Amid the broader market weakness, Spark — the onchain capital allocator incubated by Sky — unveiled two new lending products aimed at institutional borrowers. The initiative seeks to connect the estimated $33 billion offchain crypto lending market with decentralized finance infrastructure.
The first offering, Spark Prime, enables institutions to trade on margin and settle off-exchange while deploying collateral across both centralized and decentralized venues. The second, Spark Institutional Lending, is tailored for firms requiring regulated custody. Through partnerships with custodians such as Anchorage Digital, institutions can borrow against offchain-held assets while accessing onchain liquidity.
Spark currently manages more than $9 billion in stablecoin liquidity across DeFi and holds $5.2 billion in total value locked, according to DefiLlama.
Its native token, SPK — which governs risk and capital allocation parameters via a DAO structure — rose over 2% in the past 24 hours, outperforming the broader crypto market.
