Bitcoin slipped 0.2% to approximately $80,250 since midnight UTC but continued holding above the $80,000 level after Wednesday’s strong rally. The market recovery coincided with renewed demand for U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, which recorded inflows after three consecutive days of withdrawals.
Bitcoin retreated slightly after climbing from around $78,000 on Wednesday. Ether also weakened, falling 0.4%, while the CoinDesk 80 Index moved 0.9% higher.
The previous session’s gains followed an approximately 8% decline in oil prices and a rebound in U.S. equities after the midterm elections. Over the last 24 hours, Bitcoin advanced 2.5%, while Ether increased 4%. Brent crude traded near $95 per barrel, recovering slightly after Wednesday’s steep decline.
According to Farside Investors, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted $74.6 million in net investments on Wednesday, ending a three-session outflow streak.
U.S. stock futures delivered mixed signals early Thursday, with S&P 500 futures declining 0.1% and Nasdaq-100 futures losing 0.8%. Investors are now looking toward Thursday’s initial jobless claims figures and Friday’s U.S. employment report for further economic signals.
Bitcoin Short Sellers Face Heavy Liquidations as Prices Recover
Futures activity accelerates: Cryptocurrency futures trading volume increased 15% over 24 hours to $244 billion, while aggregate open interest rose just 1% to $139.9 billion. This suggests that traders were largely repositioning existing bets rather than bringing significant fresh capital into the market.
Meanwhile, total liquidations jumped 53% to $715 million, with short positions accounting for approximately 65% of the total. The figures indicate that traders betting on falling prices were forced to close their positions during the recovery.
The taker buy-sell volume ratio, which tracks aggressive market orders, shifted to a slight selling bias of 50.6%, reversing the modest buying advantage seen a day earlier.
Bitcoin’s rally relies heavily on short covering: Bitcoin open interest increased only 0.3% despite a 2.6% price gain. Approximately 93% of the $267 million in Bitcoin liquidations involved short positions.
This suggests that the upward move was driven mainly by bearish traders being forced out of their positions rather than a substantial influx of new leveraged bullish bets. However, funding rates remain positive and have increased from the previous session, showing that long traders are still paying short sellers.
NEAR reverses direction as Zcash trading cools: NEAR Protocol moved from the strongest market-order buying position on Wednesday to the weakest on Thursday. Its open interest declined 2.7% as its price dropped 1.1%, pointing to capital leaving the market. Funding remained positive, indicating that long-position holders continued paying shorts.
Zcash also experienced reduced momentum. Its open interest increased 3.5% alongside a 3.6% price gain, but the 25% expansion in fresh capital seen the previous day did not repeat. Trading volume fell 13%.
CVD readings remain divided: Open-interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta (CVD), which measures aggressive buying and selling activity, showed mixed conditions across the market. SUI recorded some of the strongest positive readings, while TRX, GRAM and BNB showed comparatively heavy selling pressure.
Funding rates maintain a bullish tilt: Most cryptocurrencies continued recording positive funding rates, meaning traders holding long positions were paying those holding shorts. Monero’s XMR retained the highest positive funding rate, although its level declined from Wednesday. GRAM and TRX recorded the most negative rates, indicating that short sellers were paying long traders.
Bitcoin options reflect weaker demand for downside protection: Bitcoin’s one-week options skew, which measures the premium paid for put options relative to calls, dropped to approximately 2% from 11% a day earlier.
The decline suggests that traders have significantly reduced their demand for short-term downside protection. One-week implied volatility, which measures expected price fluctuations, also eased to approximately 33%.
Call contracts dominate Bitcoin options activity: Five of Bitcoin’s six most actively traded options contracts were calls, with strike prices ranging from $78,000 to $85,000. Only one put contract appeared among the leading positions.
This differs from Wednesday’s activity, when put options with $75,000 and $68,000 strike prices also featured among the most traded contracts. Ether options showed a contrasting trend, with four of the six most active contracts being puts at strike prices below the current market price.
Injective Rallies After Nasdaq Approves Staked ETF Listing
Injective (INJ) topped the CoinDesk 100 Index, advancing approximately 6% since midnight UTC after Nasdaq approved the listing of Canary Capital’s proposed staked INJ exchange-traded fund. According to an SEC filing, the product is expected to trade under the ticker INJC. INJ gained approximately 10% over the previous 24 hours.
Venice Token (VVV), Wednesday’s strongest performer, reversed its gains and declined 11% over the same period.
Official Trump (TRUMP) dropped approximately 14%, recording the weakest performance among the top 100 cryptocurrencies on CoinMarketCap. World Liberty Financial’s WLFI token also declined around 4%. Both assets experienced selling pressure following Democratic victories in the midterm elections.
Overall market sentiment improved, with the CoinMarketCap Fear and Greed Index rising to 42 from 37 and returning to neutral territory. The Altcoin Season Index remained at 49, indicating that a broad-based altcoin rally has yet to take hold.
