Bitcoin slipped below $63,000 after spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded consecutive net outflows for the first time since late July. The selling erased the cryptocurrency’s gains from last week, while altcoins showed mixed performance.
BTC fell 1.14% since midnight UTC as continued ETF withdrawals and a shortage of fresh bullish catalysts weighed on the market.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs registered $192 million in net outflows, according to SoSoValue, marking their first two-day withdrawal streak since late July.
Bitcoin is now at its lowest level since Aug. 3 after surrendering last week’s rebound. Ether also declined 0.73%, although some altcoins continued to outperform the largest cryptocurrencies.
U.S. equities provided a more positive backdrop on Thursday after producer price inflation eased to 4.7%, below expectations. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 both moved higher following the data, while futures for both indexes remained slightly positive.
Derivatives Market Points to Defensive Positioning
Futures activity remains dominated by position turnover: The long-short taker ratio remains close to balanced, with long trades accounting for about half of the flow. At the same time, 24-hour trading volume is expanding considerably faster than open interest, suggesting traders are mainly adjusting existing positions rather than building significant new exposure.
Bitcoin Cash sees increased short exposure: Bitcoin Cash posted the largest open-interest increase over the past 24 hours. OI rose 10% to 1.64 million BCH as the token’s price dropped 3%, pointing to fresh short positioning.
Negative annualized funding rates strengthen the bearish signal. BCH’s 24-hour OI-adjusted cumulative volume delta was also negative, indicating that sellers were more aggressive with market orders than buyers. Together, the indicators suggest traders are preparing for further losses.
Bitcoin open interest rises despite falling prices: Bitcoin’s open interest climbed more than 3% to roughly 765,000 BTC while the price declined. CVD was negative, although annualized funding remained modestly positive.
HBAR records the strongest bearish signal: HBAR had the most negative 24-hour CVD among the top 25 cryptocurrencies, with funding rates near -20%. This points to pronounced bearish positioning. All of the top 25 assets also recorded negative CVD.
Bitcoin volatility continues to decline: Bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility index, BVIV, fell below 36% after rising close to 39% earlier in the week. The retreat suggests continued demand for overwriting strategies that aim to generate additional yield from spot Bitcoin holdings. Ether’s EVIV showed a similar trend.
Options activity remains divided: Deribit data showed Bitcoin calls at $70,000, $69,000 and $67,000 among the five most actively traded contracts. Ether traders were more defensive, with puts at $1,700 and $1,780 seeing stronger activity.
Altcoins Show Diverging Moves
Ether.fi’s ETHFI was the strongest performer over the past day, rising 11.5% after the platform expanded its neobank offering to include tokenized equities and DeFi loans. The token later pulled back 3.3% on Friday.
ATOM also posted a sharp gain, climbing more than 10% in 24 hours. Trading volume increased 232% to $51 million even though there was no obvious news catalyst behind the move.
Fetch.ai and Monero maintained modest weekly gains, rising 0.55% and 0.81%, respectively, since midnight UTC.
Meanwhile, NEAR, MORPHO, TAO and JUP each declined around 2%, reflecting continued caution across the wider crypto market.
