Bitcoin slips below $83,000 as Ethereum researcher's 'bunker mode' call divides crypto
Justin Drake's call to prepare for an AI break of wallet cryptography drew a mixed response as bitcoin slipped below $83,000.
Sellers keep their edge as liquidations ease: The 24-hour taker long/short ratio is 48% to 52%, little changed from yesterday's 52%-plus share for shorts. Crypto futures open interest (OI) is down 1% at $150 billion, and trading volume is largely unchanged at $187 billion. Liquidations fell to $400 million from $548 million yesterday. Sellers are still in control, but with less forced selling.
Majors see deleveraging, not fresh shorts: Notional OI, or the dollar value of active futures bets, has fallen in BTC, ETH, HYPE, XRP and DOGE by as much as or more than their spot prices. That means traders aren't adding new bets on the way down, and in some cases are closing them. The selloff looks like de-risking rather than a build-up of new bearish positions.
NEAR bucks the slide as capital flows in: NEAR is up 4% over 24 hours, and its notional OI jumped 11% to $1.70 billion, a sign of fresh money entering. The signals are mixed on who's behind it. Funding is slightly negative, showing shorts are paying to hold their bets, while NEAR's 24-hour OI-adjusted cumulative volume delta (CVD) is the most positive among majors, a sign of aggressive buying. If the rally holds, shorts betting against it could be forced to cover.
SOL shorts likely piling in: Solana's notional OI rose 1.5% even as SOL fell 2%. Rising OI alongside a falling price usually points to new short positions.
Selling pressure persists for a second day: The 24-hour CVD is negative for most major coins, including BTC and ETH, with NEAR and SUI the exceptions. Sellers are still hitting bids with market orders, as they did yesterday.
Bitcoin volatility stirs from yearly lows: BVIV, bitcoin's 30-day implied volatility index, rose 5% today, turning higher from the year’s lows. The bounce points to some fresh demand for options protection, though the index remains within its recent range. Some analysts have argued that the calm in crypto and on Wall Street may not last as bond market volatility keeps rising.
Options traders turn more defensive: Bitcoin's one-week put-call skew has risen to 10%, and one- and two-month skews are slightly positive. It shows a bias for puts, or downside protection, a shift from yesterday's largely neutral readings. Ether skews show a similar tilt. Bitcoin and ether calls are still among Deribit's five most-traded contracts over 24 hours.
