Profit-taking after bitcoin reached a monthly peak of $65,500, coupled with recent Iranian strikes on U.S. bases, has driven crypto prices down, with bears prevailing across most tokens.
By Oliver Knight, Omkar Godbole|Edited by Sheldon Reback Jul 16, 2026, 10:35 a.m. 3 min readMake preferred on ShareShare this articleCopy linkX (Twitter)LinkedInFacebookEmailMake preferred on Bitcoin price (CoinDesk data)SummaryShow- Bitcoin has retreated to $64,000 after reaching a monthly high of $65,500 on Wednesday, as profit-taking and Iranian military actions against U.S. bases contributed to the decline.
- Bears are dominating price movements across various altcoins, with negative cumulative volume deltas indicating market-order selling. XRP futures saw open interest rise to a 10-day peak alongside a price drop, suggesting increasing bearish sentiment.
- MORPHO emerged as a notable exception, gaining 3.5% as it approaches the $2.20 resistance level. The Robinhood Chain memecoin CASHCAT saw its market cap decrease to $91 million after peaking at $220 million during its initial week.
The cryptocurrency market is experiencing significant selling pressure, with bitcoin BTC$64,174.50 and ether (ETH) down by 1.1% and 1.7%, respectively, since midnight UTC.
This downturn follows bitcoin's rise to a monthly high of $65,500 on Wednesday, which led some traders to secure profits.
Other altcoins, such as PUMP and ZEC, also experienced declines of 4.4% each, as the momentum from Tuesday's gains dissipated, illustrating a lack of liquidity in the market.
U.S. stock markets also faced setbacks, with futures for the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index falling by 0.25%, continuing a downward trend that has persisted for the past month.
A significant factor influencing price dynamics across asset classes is the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, highlighted by Iranian attacks on U.S. military bases in the Gulf region on Thursday, alongside U.S. airstrikes.
Derivatives Positioning
- Ether has seen a 1.7% drop since midnight UTC, slightly higher than bitcoin's decline. This underperformance appears to be driven by the unwinding of bullish positions rather than new aggressive short selling, as indicated by the decrease in open interest (OI) to 14.35 million ETH from a five-week high of 14.45 million ETH reached on Wednesday. Futures for BTC reflect similar trends.
- Conversely, XRP's open interest increased to a 10-day high of 2.21 billion XRP, even as the spot price dropped by 0.6%. This scenario typically suggests a growing bearish bias, although XRP's positive funding rates contradict this. Nonetheless, the 24-hour cumulative volume delta (CVD) for XRP is negative, showing that short positions are being executed via market orders rather than limit orders.
- SUI, the native token of the Sui blockchain, has also seen a 15% increase in open interest, although its total OI of 654 million tokens aligns with earlier weekly levels. The SUI token itself has fallen nearly 2% over the past day.
- In general, most cryptocurrencies, apart from BTC, ETH, and XMR, are showing negative 24-hour OI-adjusted cumulative volume deltas (CVD), indicating that bears are leading price movements.
- Bitcoin's 30-day implied volatility index has risen by 2% to 38%. Historically, volatility tends to revert to the mean, and sub-40% levels have often foreshadowed market upheaval.
- On Deribit, there has been a notable increase in trading volume and open interest for BTC calls at $70,000 and $72,000 strike prices, likely indicating a bullish call spread recently executed. This strategy anticipates that prices will rise to $72,000 by the end of July.
- For ETH, the most actively traded option in the past 24 hours has been the end-July expiry call at the $2,300 strike, reflecting bullish sentiment.
Token Talk
- The artificial intelligence token MORPHO$2.0995 managed to defy the overall bearish trend in crypto prices, gaining 3.5% since midnight as it aims to test the $2.20 resistance level, after having faced rejection at this point earlier, dropping to $1.85 on July 2.
- Most altcoins followed the downward trend of bitcoin and ether, with tokens like HYPE, SOL, and ENA declining by 1.3% to 1.8%, while NEAR, JUP, and DASH experienced more pronounced losses.
- CoinMarketCap's "Altcoin Season" indicator remains in a neutral range, currently at 48/100, down from 58/100 earlier this week as investors shifted their attention back to bitcoin.
- Recent interest within the altcoin market has focused on memecoins, particularly those launched on Robinhood’s new blockchain. One such token, CASHCAT, surged to a $220 million market cap in its first week but has since declined to $91 million, maintaining roughly $60 million in daily trading volume.
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Gate Leads Spot Market Share Gains as CEX Volumes Rise for First Time in Five Months
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CEX trading volumes rose for the first time in five months in June, with spot climbing 15.3% to $1.11T and RWA perpetual volumes surging to a record $311B.
By CoinDesk ResearchJul 13, 2026CEX trading volumes rose for the first time in five months in June, with spot climbing 15.3% to $1.11T and RWA perpetual volumes surging to a record $311B.
Why it matters:
CEX trading volumes rose for the first time in five months in June, with spot climbing 15.3% to $1.11T and RWA perpetual volumes surging to a record $311B.
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