Bitcoin retreated to five-day lows on Thursday as repeated failures to break through $94,500 reinforced a tight trading range.
BTC fell below $90,000, sliding from a local high of $91,570 at 01:15 UTC to trade at $91,536, its lowest level in five days. The move follows a third unsuccessful attempt to surpass $94,500, after similar rejections on Dec. 4 and Dec. 10, reflecting price action that has largely mirrored the past six weeks.
Bitcoin’s trading range is now well-defined between $85,000 and $94,500, offering some stability after the October selloff that drove the token from a record high of $126,220 on Oct. 6 to $80,600 by Nov. 21.
Altcoins underperform
Altcoins suffered sharply, with privacy coin Zcash (ZEC) plunging over 16% between midnight UTC and 10:00, while PUMP also posted a double-digit decline. The DeFi sector saw the heaviest losses, with the DeFi index (DFX) down 3.12%, closely followed by the memecoin index (CDMEME), which fell 3.09%. Larger-cap tokens fared slightly better, with the CoinDesk 20 dropping 2.23%.
Liquidity strains exacerbated losses. A $12 million long position on ZEC was liquidated, causing outsized losses amid thin order books. Market depth across the altcoin ecosystem remains shallow following a $19 billion derivatives liquidation cascade in early October. ZEC also faces uncertainty after key development team members resigned following a dispute with a nonprofit supporting the network. CoinMarketCap’s “altcoin season” indicator remains in bearish territory at 23/100, far below its September peak of 78/100.
Derivatives positioning
Over $400 million in leveraged crypto futures positions were liquidated in the past 24 hours, predominantly on bullish bets, signaling a generally bearish leverage skew. Overall open interest in crypto futures fell to $140 billion from over $141 billion on Wednesday, the highest in nearly two months.
Bitcoin futures open interest rose 2%, accompanied by positive funding rates, suggesting some traders are buying the dip. In contrast, OI for ETH, SOL, XRP, ZEC, and SUI declined, indicating outflows. Funding rates remain positive for most major cryptocurrencies except BNB, while altcoins including LINK, XLM, AVAX, and CC show negative rates.
Options activity on Deribit shows BTC and ETH puts trading at a premium to calls, indicating a persistent downside bias, though the put skew has eased in short-dated contracts compared with last month. Block flows reveal strong investor demand for volatility strategies like straddles and strangles in both bitcoin and ether, with ETH flows featuring put spreads.
Macro context
U.S. equity index futures also fell, with Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 futures down 0.27% and 0.29% since midnight UTC, while the dollar index (DXY) continued its ascent, rising more than 1% since Dec. 24.
