The cryptocurrency market came under heavy selling pressure on Thursday. Bitcoin briefly slipped to around $61,300 overnight before rebounding to $64,680, later stabilizing near $62,500. Ether dropped as low as $1,750, while losses in select altcoins such as NEAR, ZEC, and JUP surpassed 13%.
Widespread liquidations and turbulence in derivatives
The steep market pullback triggered a wave of forced liquidations across the derivatives markets. Over the past 24 hours, the total value of liquidated positions reached $1.7 billion, with $750 million in bitcoin contracts and $390 million in ether. Cumulatively, two-day liquidations neared $3 billion across the market.
Futures market data indicated that, rather than new leveraged entries, the majority of recent moves involved closing existing positions.
Futures trading volume climbed 2.9% in 24 hours to $305 billion. In contrast, open interest—referring to the total value of active derivative contracts—decreased by 8.5%, dropping to $111.4 billion. This shows that while overall activity stayed high, traders have been scaling back risk rather than making fresh bets.
Parallel trends in Bitcoin, Ether, and XRP
Open interest in Bitcoin fell from more than 800,000 BTC to 766,000 BTC in just one day. Data suggest the sharp correction flushed out most leveraged long positions, yet there was no significant buildup in new bearish bets. Analysts noted similar behavior in ether and XRP markets, implying reduced leverage across the board.
Glossary: Open interest refers to the total number of outstanding contracts in the futures market that have not been closed. Rising open interest during falling prices suggests new short positions, while declining open interest as prices drop indicates the unwinding of existing leveraged trades.
The broader derivatives landscape also showed weakness. Cumulative 24-hour trading flow for the top 20 tokens remained negative, revealing that most investors were selling at prevailing market prices. Additionally, Volmex’s 30-day implied volatility indices for bitcoin and ether saw sharp increases over the past three sessions.
Growing demand for downside protection in the options market demonstrates investors’ increased caution in the face of potential volatility.
Solana, TRX, and ADA diverge from the trend
Solana stood out for departing from general market trends. Although the price of SOL dropped, open interest surged to a record 72.16 million tokens, signaling an accumulation of short positions. This trend was mirrored in TRX and ADA, where rising open interest accompanied falling prices, highlighting increased short activity.
The altcoin segment overall struggled more than the large-cap cryptocurrencies. HYPE plunged 12% from its weekly high. DASH, ENA, and FET shed over 10% since the start of the day. Lower liquidity in these altcoin pairs meant that even modest capital shifts had an outsized impact on prices.
Key support at $60,000 in focus
In the options market, more than $1 billion in open interest is tied to put contracts with a $60,000 strike price. Approaching this level could trigger major portfolio rebalancing and fuel volatility. The most actively traded options contract in the past 24 hours was a put with a $55,000 strike.
Bitcoin’s ability to stay above $60,000 may set the tone for market direction in the near term. If prices breach this level, experts expect intensified liquidations and even sharper selling pressure, particularly in less liquid altcoin markets. Notably, despite falling 4% during the day, Monero managed to finish the 24-hour period in positive territory, trading at $347.
