Bitcoin remains trapped in a tight trading range as volatility sinks to multi-year lows, while a sharp increase in global bond yields weighs on equities. Traders are also awaiting the Federal Reserve’s July meeting minutes for signals about the central bank’s next policy moves.
Bitcoin was trading around $64,000, down roughly 0.5% since midnight UTC. The cryptocurrency has stayed between $61,500 and $66,900 since July 8, reflecting a prolonged period of muted price action.
Global bond markets have emerged as the main source of pressure. The U.S. 30-year Treasury yield briefly climbed to 5.333%, its highest level in nearly two decades. Japan’s 10-year government bond yield reached a 30-year high, while Germany’s 30-year Bund yield rose to levels not seen since 2011. France’s equivalent yield also reached its highest point since 2008.
The increase in yields came alongside weakness in U.S. equities. The Nasdaq 100 dropped 1.3% Tuesday, marking its sharpest one-day decline since early August. The S&P 500 also posted a third consecutive session of losses. Futures for both indexes have stabilized since midnight.
The focus now turns to the Federal Reserve’s July meeting minutes, due later Wednesday. The release could provide additional clues about the U.S. interest-rate outlook after policymakers voted to keep rates between 3.5% and 3.75%. Three of the 12 voting officials, however, preferred a rate increase.
Derivatives Market Shows Limited Conviction
CoinGlass data indicates that traders remain slightly more bullish than bearish on shorter timeframes. Long positions accounted for about 51% of taker flow through four hours, while the daily ratio leaned marginally bearish, with shorts at 50.21%.
Bitcoin’s open interest has also declined to approximately $21.8 billion from a peak near $23 billion on Aug. 11. The combination of lower open interest and sideways prices suggests traders are trimming exposure rather than aggressively establishing new positions ahead of a potential catalyst.
Funding rates remain slightly positive across major exchanges. Bitcoin’s open-interest-weighted rate is around 0.0049%, compared with 0.0022% for Ethereum. The relatively low readings indicate that leverage remains contained and reduce the likelihood of a major funding-driven squeeze.
The largest liquidation during the past 24 hours involved a $23.35 million BTC-USD position on Hyperliquid. Total liquidations across the market reached about $190.24 million, with short positions accounting for $113.27 million.
Ethereum recorded the largest liquidation concentration over the previous four hours at roughly $5.35 million. The predominance of short liquidations points to forced covering rather than a significant wave of fresh long positioning.
Bitcoin futures continue to carry a modest positive basis. The Aug. 28 contract showed an annualized basis of around 12%, while the Sept. 25 Deribit contract was near 7.12%. The figures suggest traders see some potential for gains but are not pricing in an outsized rally.
Deribit data showed short-term implied volatility at about 20.4% for the Aug. 20 expiry, with options implying an expected move of approximately $656 in either direction. Options activity was heavily concentrated around $64,000-$65,000, indicating that traders expect Bitcoin to remain relatively stable ahead of the Fed minutes.
Altcoins Show Mixed Performance
ENA gained 2.99% since midnight to $0.0852, emerging as one of the strongest performers after a weak stretch over the previous week.
LINK rose 1.82% to $9.70, maintaining gains from Standard Chartered’s bullish forecast last month and continuing to outperform several mid-cap DeFi tokens.
NEAR added 1.76% to $1.615, with the AI-linked token among a small group attracting buying interest after a difficult period in mid-August.
PUMP fell 3.23% to $0.002998, surrendering most of Monday’s 7.8% surge as its momentum faded.
CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season indicator remained at 44 out of 100, holding steady after falling to 37 on Aug. 7.
