BTC dropped to its lowest point since September 2024 before climbing back to $59,770, while ETH continued to decline and another $1 billion in futures were liquidated.
By Oliver Knight, Omkar Godbole|Edited by Sheldon Reback Jun 26, 2026, 11:03 a.m. 3 min readMake preferred on ShareShare this articleCopy linkX (Twitter)LinkedInFacebookEmailMake preferred on Bitcoin price (CoinDesk Data)SummaryShow- Bitcoin bounced back from its lowest point since September, while ether continued to decline, and U.S. equity futures also showed weakness.
- Derivatives data reveal increasing stress, with bitcoin futures open interest rising as traders add shorts, alongside climbing implied volatility and put skew, with over $1 billion in leveraged positions—primarily longs—liquidated within 24 hours.
- Aave and Solana are among the few altcoins performing well in a generally declining market, while Ethena has suffered due to negative funding rates.
The cryptocurrency market is holding onto a significant support level, with bitcoin BTC$59,346.28 remaining relatively stable since midnight UTC after recovering from its lowest point since September 2024 on Thursday.
The leading cryptocurrency was trading around $59,700, having previously dipped to $58,100.
Ether (ETH) did not replicate bitcoin's recovery, falling an additional 1% and marking its third consecutive day of losses, currently trading around $1,550.
U.S. equities opened Friday with signs of weakness, with Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 futures down by 1% and 0.4%, respectively, as the recent tech rally begins to unwind.
One token that defied the overall negative market trend was Aave AAVE$85.75, which rose by as much as 6.8% since midnight, adding to a 17% increase over the past week following news that crypto exchange Kraken is seeking to acquire a 15% stake in the DeFi platform.
Derivatives Positioning
- Market volatility is impacting leveraged futures positions, with another $1 billion in positions liquidated in the past 24 hours, predominantly long positions. Notably, ETH experienced more liquidations than BTC in the last 12 hours.
- Bitcoin futures open interest (OI) increased for the second day in a row, reaching 778,000 BTC, a significant rise from recent lows of about 730,000 BTC. This surge occurred during Thursday’s late selloff, indicating that traders were adding shorts in anticipation of further declines.
- Conversely, ether futures open interest has remained stable around the 14 million ETH mark since at least June 15, which is somewhat positive as it suggests traders are not aggressively shorting the price drop. A similar trend is seen with XRP.
- Solana’s open interest has decreased from record highs but still remains elevated compared to recent months, suggesting potential for ongoing volatility.
- The OI-adjusted 24-hour cumulative volume delta continues to indicate bearish dominance across most of the top 25 cryptocurrencies, with notable exceptions including BNB, SOL, and TON. This negative reading implies that bears are more active than bulls, favoring market orders over passive limit orders. This trend has been consistent since Tuesday.
- Annualized 30-day implied volatility indexes are indicating rising concerns. Bitcoin's BVIV index rose to 53% early today, its highest since June 7 and a significant jump from the June 16 low of 39%. ETH’s index increased to 66%.
- Wall Street's equivalent, the VIX, has also increased to 20% from 15% recently but remains within the range observed since early April, suggesting that equities are not yet in a state of panic. A similar sentiment is reflected in the U.S. Treasury market’s implied volatility index, MOVE.
- On Deribit, the one-week bitcoin options skew is nearing 30%, indicating a strong premium for puts, or defensive positions, over calls, highlighting significant downside fears. The one- and three-month skews are conveying a similar sentiment.
- Block flows included a notable transaction involving the $53,000 put expiring July 10, along with demand for ether risk reversals.
Token Performance
- Aave has outperformed the broader altcoin market, while Solana (SOL) also saw a 2% increase since midnight, now trading around $68.95 after dropping to $64.05 on Thursday.
- AI tokens are continuing to decline; RENDER, NEAR, FET, and TAO fell between 1% and 1.5% on Friday, extending their losses.
- Hyperliquid (HYPE) dropped by 2.6% and has now lost 18.5% since reaching a record high 12 days ago.
- Ethena (ENA) remains one of the poorest performers among altcoins, losing another 5% on Friday. It has now declined 34% since hitting a monthly peak on June 3.
- The struggles of ENA can be attributed to the ongoing bear market, as part of its yield-generation strategy relies on positive funding rates, which have recently turned negative.
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