Bitcoin has remained above $62,500, with ether around $1,665, yet lackluster price movements and increasing put skews indicate that bears are firmly in charge.
By Oliver Knight, Omkar Godbole|Edited by Sheldon Reback Jun 24, 2026, 11:04 a.m. 3 min readMake preferred on ShareShare this articleCopy linkX (Twitter)LinkedInFacebookEmailMake preferred on Bitcoin price (CoinDesk Data)SummaryShow- Overall positioning in derivatives markets remains bearish: Although SOL futures open interest reached a record high, both funding rates and CVD are negative, with ETH open interest rising as prices declined.
- This suggests new short positions are forming, with put-call skew on Deribit widening significantly to favor downside protection.
- The lack of a significant rebound, even as U.S. equity futures started to recover from Tuesday's technology sell-off, is a major concern, especially since bitcoin must maintain its position above $60,000 to avoid falling into a trading range not seen since late 2024.
On Wednesday, the crypto market exhibited a sluggish performance, with bitcoin BTC$62,812.86 and ether (ETH) both declining by less than 0.4% since midnight UTC, and the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) dropping by 0.9%, as 18 of its components experienced losses.
The absence of a significant bounce is particularly alarming, especially in light of the recovery in U.S. equity futures.
Some altcoins demonstrated stronger performance, with jupiter (JUP) and monero (XMR) gaining between 2% and 4%, indicating that investor interest may still persist despite the overall bearish sentiment in the market.
Bitcoin must avoid falling below the critical support level of $60,000 to prevent a return to a trading range not seen since late 2024, with $52,000 identified as a significant downside target.
Derivatives positioning
- Activity in the derivatives market has slowed, with a 27% decrease in volume to $141 billion over the past 24 hours, while open interest has risen 2% to $106 billion. Liquidations amounted to $158 million, the lowest figure in two weeks.
- BTC futures open interest has stabilized at around 730K BTC for the eighth consecutive day, indicating consolidation at current levels.
- ETH futures have shown renewed activity, with open interest climbing to 14.3 million ETH, the highest in two weeks, up from a recent low of 13.74 million.
- This increase occurred as the spot price dropped from approximately $1,780 to $1,650 over the last two days, a pattern often indicating that traders are shorting into the rally. While funding rates remain slightly positive, indicating some demand for bullish exposure, the 24-hour cumulative volume delta (CVD) is negative, suggesting that bears are dominating price action through market orders rather than passive limit orders.
- SOL futures are experiencing heightened activity, with open interest reaching a record high of 77.68 million tokens. However, both funding rates and 24-hour OI-adjusted CVD are negative, reflecting that the activity is driven by new short positions or bearish bets on the token.
- Conversely, ZEC's market is rapidly cooling, with open interest falling to 2 million tokens from nearly 2.55 million last month.
- Overall, bears seem to be leading price movements across most of the top 25 tokens, as indicated by negative OI-adjusted CVDs for the second consecutive day.
- Bitcoin's 30-day implied volatility index (BVIV) has decreased to 43% from almost 48% on Tuesday, with a similar trend observed in ether's volatility index.
- On Deribit, the one-week skew widened to 10.9 vol points favoring puts, up from roughly 7 points a day earlier, indicating growing concerns about downside risks. The one-month skew also expanded.
- Block flows on Paradigm included a straddle strategy involving both call and put options at the $62,000 strike, both set to expire on July 3, indicating a bet on increased volatility.
Token talk
- While monero and jupiter saw gains early on Wednesday, the same cannot be said for ethena (ENA), pump (PUMP), and stellar (XLM), which all fell between 2.2% and 3.5% since midnight UTC.
- Ethena has now experienced a decline of over 90% since reaching a peak of $0.87 last September. The yield-generating DeFi platform is struggling due to a strategy reliant on bullish market conditions and positive funding rates.
- Similar declines have affected established tokens like LTC$42.17 and ADA$0.1480, which have not returned to their respective 2021 highs in the recent bull market and have been trading in a macro downtrend since.
- The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) continued to make gains on Wednesday, now approaching its May 2025 peak. A stronger dollar is generally viewed as unfavorable for risk assets, including altcoins, as it suggests investors prefer cash over riskier investments.
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CEX Volumes Drop to Lowest Since September 2024 as RWA Perps Hit Record High
CEX Volumes Drop to Lowest Since September 2024 as RWA Perps Hit Record High
In May, combined exchange volumes fell 3.45% to $4.41T; the lowest since September 2024. RWA perpetual futures volumes rose 10.4% against the trend, hitting a new all-time high.
By CoinDesk ResearchJun 15, 2026In May, combined exchange volumes fell 3.45% to $4.41T; the lowest since September 2024. RWA perpetual futures volumes rose 10.4% against the trend, hitting a new all-time high.
Why it matters:
In May, combined exchange volumes fell 3.45% to $4.41T; the lowest since September 2024. RWA perpetual futures volumes rose 10.4% against the trend, hitting a new all-time high.
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