Bitcoin retreated toward $79,000 on Wednesday as investors took some profits after the cryptocurrency posted a 23% gain over the previous seven days. Strong ETF demand, however, continues to provide a layer of support.
BTC was down about 1.2% over 24 hours near $79,000, while the broader CoinDesk 20 Index declined approximately 2.1%.
U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs continued to attract fresh capital. The funds recorded roughly $314 million in net inflows on Tuesday, marking their seventh consecutive positive session. August inflows have now exceeded $3 billion, according to SoSoValue.
Market sentiment has also changed rapidly following Bitcoin’s surge. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index from Alternative.me reached 74, up from 27 less than two weeks earlier, before pulling back.
Pedro Fontes, a research analyst at Mercado Bitcoin, identified $82,000 and $85,000 as the next significant resistance levels. He added that a period of consolidation would be expected after such a rapid move higher.
Outside crypto, gold held near $4,630 per ounce after touching a three-month peak. Asian stocks advanced, while U.S. equity futures were mostly flat ahead of inflation data and Nvidia’s earnings. Oil prices fell for a third consecutive session.
Bitcoin Derivatives Offer Mixed Signals
Taker flows turn bearish: The taker long-short volume ratio shifted into negative territory ahead of key economic releases. Short transactions represented 51.64% of the 24-hour flow, indicating sellers had a slight advantage among traders executing against available liquidity.
Falling BTC OI is constructive: Bitcoin slipped toward $78,500 while futures open interest fell below 700,000 BTC. Falling prices alongside declining OI can indicate that traders are closing existing positions rather than aggressively adding new shorts. Ether and XRP futures showed similar patterns.
SOL OI continues rising: Solana futures open interest increased for a third straight day to 65.53 million tokens, although that level represents only a one-week high.
SUI futures reach record OI: SUI futures open interest climbed to about 838 million tokens, a new record. With SUI’s spot price falling more than 5% over 24 hours, the increase may reflect traders building short positions. Negative OI-adjusted CVD also points to bearish pressure.
Broader CVD remains negative: Cumulative volume delta is negative across many leading cryptocurrencies, suggesting more short trades are being executed at market prices rather than through passive limit orders.
Volatility expectations ease: Bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility measure, BVIV, continued to decline after its recent spike. The move suggests traders expect BTC to consolidate around $80,000 rather than experience another major breakout immediately. Ether’s EVIV is showing a similar decline.
Bullish options demand strengthens: Bitcoin calls with strikes between $82,000 and $100,000 are attracting increased activity on Deribit. These options give traders upside exposure without requiring them to hold BTC directly. Ether call options are seeing comparable interest.
Token Movers
PYTH was among the strongest performers, gaining 11% in 24 hours ahead of the Pyth Core infrastructure upgrade. The update is expected to provide faster price updates, more feeds and reduced latency.
ZRO also posted a double-digit increase after LayerZero announced ATLAS, a trading and settlement engine that will direct 75% of remaining revenue toward purchasing and burning ZRO.
Bitcoin, Ether and Solana nevertheless remained slightly lower as traders continued taking profits after their recent rallies.
Zcash fell 7.3% over 24 hours after Grayscale’s spot ZEC ETF began trading, producing a classic sell-the-news reaction following ZEC’s roughly 56% gain over the previous week.
INJ, ENA and VIRTUAL also moved lower, declining 6.8%, 6.5% and 5.2%, respectively.
