Bitcoin pulled back toward $79,000 on Wednesday as traders locked in profits after the cryptocurrency gained 23% over the past week, while steady ETF inflows continued to support the market.
BTC traded around $79,000, down roughly 1.2% over the previous 24 hours. The broader CoinDesk 20 Index fell about 2.1% during the same period.
U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs remained a source of demand, recording approximately $314 million in net inflows on Tuesday. That extended the funds’ positive streak to seven sessions and lifted August’s cumulative inflows above $3 billion, according to SoSoValue.
At the same time, market sentiment has shifted sharply. Alternative.me’s Crypto Fear & Greed Index climbed to 74 from 27 less than two weeks earlier before easing, reflecting the rapid change in investor appetite following Bitcoin’s rally.
Pedro Fontes, a research analyst at Mercado Bitcoin, sees $82,000 and $85,000 as key resistance zones ahead. He said some consolidation would be normal after Bitcoin’s steep advance.
In traditional markets, gold remained close to $4,630 per ounce after reaching a three-month high. Asian equities gained, while U.S. stock futures were little changed before inflation data and Nvidia’s earnings release. Oil prices extended their decline for a third consecutive session.
Bitcoin Derivatives Point to Mixed Market Conditions
Taker flows lean bearish: The taker long-short volume ratio moved into bearish territory ahead of major economic data. Short trades represented 51.64% of the 24-hour flow, giving sellers a modest edge among traders executing directly against available orders.
Declining BTC futures OI is encouraging: Bitcoin’s spot price slipped toward $78,500 while futures open interest dropped below 700,000 BTC. The combination of falling prices and lower OI suggests traders are reducing existing exposure instead of aggressively opening fresh short positions. Ether and XRP derivatives showed similar trends.
SOL open interest rises: Solana futures OI increased for a third consecutive day, reaching 65.53 million tokens. Even so, the figure represents only a one-week high.
SUI OI hits a record: Futures open interest for SUI reached approximately 838 million tokens, its highest level on record. Because SUI’s spot price fell more than 5% over 24 hours, the increase in OI could indicate growing short exposure. Its negative OI-adjusted CVD also supports the bearish interpretation.
Selling pressure remains broad: CVD readings are negative for many major cryptocurrencies, indicating that more traders are executing sales at market prices rather than relying on passive limit orders.
Volatility expectations cool: Bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility gauge, BVIV, continued to fall after its recent jump. The decline suggests traders expect BTC to spend some time consolidating around $80,000. Ether’s EVIV is following a similar path.
Bitcoin calls gain attention: Traders on Deribit are increasingly targeting BTC call options with strikes between $82,000 and $100,000. These contracts provide upside exposure without requiring direct ownership of Bitcoin. Ether is seeing similar demand for calls.
Crypto Token Movers
PYTH was one of the strongest performers, gaining 11% in 24 hours ahead of the Pyth Core infrastructure upgrade. The update is expected to introduce faster price feeds, additional data sources and lower latency.
ZRO also recorded a double-digit gain after LayerZero launched ATLAS, a trading and settlement platform that plans to allocate 75% of remaining revenue toward buying and burning ZRO tokens.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin, Ether and Solana posted modest declines as investors continued to take profits following their strong weekly gains.
Zcash dropped 7.3% over 24 hours after Grayscale’s spot ZEC ETF began trading. The decline followed a roughly 56% surge in ZEC during the previous week, creating a sell-the-news reaction.
INJ, ENA and VIRTUAL also declined, falling 6.8%, 6.5% and 5.2%, respectively.
