Bitcoin held its ground over the past day even as large holders and miners sent significant amounts of BTC to exchanges and altcoins came under renewed pressure.
On-chain data from Lookonchain showed a long-term bitcoin holder transferring $228 million in BTC to Kraken. Separately, miner MARA Holdings (MARA) moved $58 million worth of bitcoin to FalconX and Coinbase Prime. Despite the influx of supply, BTC’s price stayed relatively stable, supported by a 5% uptick in trading volume to $81 billion.
Altcoins, however, struggled. Ether (ETH) slid 3.4%, while several smaller assets — including canton (CC) — registered double-digit losses.
Derivatives outlook
Roughly $600 million in leveraged futures positions were wiped out over the past 24 hours, predominantly long positions, indicating that bullish leverage continues to unwind across the market.
Open interest increased in ZEC, BTC, SOL and DOGE futures, whereas XRP, ETH, ASTER and AVAX saw outflows. Funding rates for TRX and ZEC perpetuals remained negative, signaling short-side pressure, while most major cryptocurrencies posted slightly positive funding.
CME futures participation also thinned. Bitcoin futures open interest dropped to 133,250 contracts — the lowest level since late September and well off the December 2024 peak above 200,000 BTC. ETH futures OI stabilized near 2 million ETH after sliding from a record 2.63 million in late October.
Deribit option flows were dominated by call spreads and strangles, with one notable block trade involving a $90,000 BTC put expiring Nov. 28. In ETH options, put spreads accounted for 43% of 24-hour block activity.
Token talk
Altcoins erased much of Wednesday’s gains as ether continued to lead the downside, falling 3.4%. CoinMarketCap’s altcoin season indicator dropped five points to 26/100, while the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) posted a 0.66% decline.
A handful of tokens bucked the broader downturn. ATOM jumped more than 10% on a technical breakout, and zcash (ZEC) extended its steady two-month rally with an 8.7% increase.
Meanwhile, Base founder Jesse Pollak said he plans to launch a new token on Thursday under the ticker JESSE. The announcement drew skepticism due to the weak performance of past “content tokens” he introduced. Pollak argued on X that combining creator coins with content-driven tokens creates a “flywheel” that channels value back to creators and their supporters.
Memecoins and attention-driven tokens have lagged the market for months. The CoinDesk Memecoin Index (CDMEME) has dropped more than 40% since September, compared with roughly a 30% decline in the CoinDesk 20.
