Bitcoin fell below $63,000 as spot Bitcoin ETFs posted two consecutive days of net outflows for the first time since late July. The decline also erased Bitcoin’s gains from the previous week, while altcoins delivered a mixed performance.
BTC was down 1.14% since midnight UTC as continued ETF withdrawals and the absence of strong bullish catalysts weighed on investor sentiment.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $192 million in net outflows, according to SoSoValue, marking the first back-to-back withdrawal days since late July.
Bitcoin is now trading at its lowest level since Aug. 3 after giving up last week’s recovery. Ether also slipped 0.73%, while several altcoins continued to show relative strength compared with the major cryptocurrencies.
U.S. stocks performed better on Thursday after producer price inflation came in at 4.7%, below economists’ expectations. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 both advanced after the release, while futures remained slightly positive.
Derivatives Market Shows Mixed Signals
Futures trading remains active: The crypto derivatives market continues to see significant position turnover despite the price weakness. The long-short taker ratio remains evenly balanced, with longs accounting for roughly half of the flow. Meanwhile, 24-hour trading volume is growing much faster than open interest, suggesting existing positions are being rotated rather than large amounts of new exposure being established.
Bitcoin Cash attracts bearish bets: Bitcoin Cash recorded the strongest increase in open interest over the past 24 hours. OI climbed 10% to 1.64 million BCH as the token’s spot price fell 3%, indicating that traders may be building fresh short positions.
Negative annualized funding rates further support the bearish outlook. BCH’s 24-hour open-interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta also remained negative, showing that sellers were more aggressively using market orders. The combined signals suggest traders are positioning for additional downside.
Bitcoin OI increases despite price decline: Bitcoin’s open interest rose more than 3% to approximately 765,000 BTC while the cryptocurrency’s price declined. CVD remained negative, although funding rates continued to be slightly positive.
HBAR displays the strongest bearish bias: HBAR recorded the most negative 24-hour CVD among the top 25 cryptocurrencies, while funding rates hovered near -20%. The figures indicate strong bearish positioning. More broadly, all of the top 25 tokens recorded negative CVD.
Bitcoin volatility eases: Bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility measure, BVIV, fell below 36% after briefly approaching 39% earlier in the week. The decline suggests traders remain interested in overwriting strategies that seek to generate additional returns from existing spot holdings. Ether’s EVIV is showing a similar pattern.
Options positioning remains split: Bitcoin calls at the $70,000, $69,000 and $67,000 strikes ranked among Deribit’s five most-traded contracts. Ether options showed more defensive positioning, with puts at $1,700 and $1,780 attracting stronger activity.
Altcoin Performance
Ether.fi’s ETHFI token led the market over the past 24 hours, gaining 11.5% after the platform introduced tokenized stocks and DeFi lending products to its neobank. The token subsequently gave back part of the advance, falling 3.3% on Friday.
Cosmos’ ATOM also rallied sharply, gaining more than 10% over 24 hours. Its trading volume surged 232% to $51 million despite no obvious news catalyst behind the move.
Fetch.ai and Monero remained in positive territory for the week, rising 0.55% and 0.81%, respectively, since midnight UTC.
Other tokens struggled, with NEAR, MORPHO, TAO and JUP each falling around 2% as investors remained cautious across the broader crypto market.
