Bitcoin stayed largely unchanged over the past day even as major holders and miners sent sizable amounts of BTC to exchanges, contributing to a wave of sell pressure that hit the broader market.
Lookonchain reported that a long-term bitcoin holder transferred $228 million worth of BTC to Kraken, while miner MARA Holdings (MARA) moved $58 million in bitcoin to FalconX and Coinbase Prime. Despite the increased supply hitting order books, BTC held firm, supported by a 5% rise in trading volume to $81 billion.
Altcoins were hit much harder. Ether (ETH) fell 3.4%, and several smaller names — including canton (CC) — dropped more than 10% as risk appetite faded.
Derivatives picture
Roughly $600 million in leveraged futures positions were liquidated in the last 24 hours, mostly from overextended long traders, indicating a continued unwind of bullish positioning.
Open interest climbed in ZEC, BTC, SOL and DOGE futures, while markets for XRP, ETH, ASTER and AVAX saw outflows. Funding rates remained negative for TRX and ZEC perpetuals — a sign of persistent short bias — while most other major tokens carried slightly positive rates.
Institutional derivatives flows were also softer. CME bitcoin futures open interest dropped to 133,250 contracts, marking its lowest reading since late September and sitting well below the December 2024 peak above 200,000 BTC. ETH futures OI steadied near 2 million ETH after falling from its late-October record of 2.63 million.
On Deribit, traders favored call spreads and strangles. One standout block trade involved a $90,000 BTC put option expiring Nov. 28. For ether, put spreads made up 43% of block flow over the past day.
Token talk
Altcoins surrendered the bulk of Wednesday’s rally as ether led the move lower. CoinMarketCap’s altcoin season index slipped to 26/100, while the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) dipped 0.66%.
A few tokens bucked the downturn. ATOM surged more than 10% amid a technical breakout, and zcash (ZEC) added 8.7%, extending its two-month uptrend.
Elsewhere, Base founder Jesse Pollak announced that he will launch a token on Thursday under the ticker JESSE. The plan drew skepticism due to the poor performance of his earlier “content tokens,” which tended to lose value quickly. Pollak defended the concept on X, arguing that pairing content tokens with creator tokens creates a “flywheel” that enhances value and ownership for creators and their audiences.
Memecoins and viral tokens have been among the worst performers in recent months. The CoinDesk Memecoin Index (CDMEME) has plunged more than 40% since September, compared with a roughly 30% decline in the CoinDesk 20.
