The total open interest in derivatives based on digital gold has dropped to its lowest level since late 2022. This was indicated by the CryptoQuant analyst under the nickname Arab Chain.
«The current dynamics clearly reflect a decline in risk appetite and a massive outflow of liquidity from futures markets on the largest exchanges», commented the expert.
The largest drop was recorded on Binance — approximately 1.53 million BTC. Next came Bybit (-784,000 BTC), Gate (-505,000 BTC), and OKX (-395,000 BTC).
A similar decline was observed on Deribit, Bitfinex, and HTX Global, confirming the market-wide, not local, nature of the trend. In Arab Chain, this was interpreted as a "deleveraging" phase — a large-scale liquidation of leveraged positions.
This conclusion is supported by Bitcoin's price decline to $90,150 after failing to hold above $94,000.
"Historically, reaching similar levels since 2022 has preceded periods of consolidation or even bullish reversals, especially if price action began to stabilize," added the analyst.
As of writing, digital gold is trading around $90,700. Its price has increased by 0.1% over the past 24 hours.
Glassnode specialists highlighted the following key levels:
base cost for short-term holders: $98,900;
average price of active investors: $87,700;
true average market value: $81,000;
realized price: $56,000.
Options
According to Greeks.live, options worth $2.4 billion expired on January 9 — 7% of the total open interest.
The put-to-call ratio for Bitcoin was 1.07, with the maximum pain point at $90,000, while for Ethereum it was 0.88, with the level at $3,100. Bearish sentiments dominate the digital gold market.
Implied volatility of the first cryptocurrency stabilized at around ~40%. For the leading altcoin, it dropped to 55%. Experts noted a general weakening of the downtrend.
In Greeks.live also noted a high share of block trades — 70%. This indicates that market makers and active traders are accumulating significant cash reserves.
"Their main strategic positions at the moment are focused on monthly call options on Bitcoin and monthly put options on Ethereum, reflecting a differentiated approach to expectations for the two leading assets," specialists commented.
We remind you that JPMorgan analysts allowed for the end of the sell-off on the crypto market. According to them, current factors point to a possible bottoming out, rather than the start of a new downtrend.
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