Nvidia Shares and Bitcoin Decline Together as Spot ETFs Record Fifth Day of Outflows

Bitcoin extended its decline as renewed selling across technology stocks weighed on risk appetite, while uncertainty surrounding Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang added to market volatility. Persistent institutional outflows further pressured the cryptocurrency, with U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recording another $299.9 million in withdrawals and extending their losing streak to five consecutive trading sessions.

Bitcoin (BTC) dropped 0.7% from midnight UTC to approximately $73,400, remaining close to its daily low as weakness spread throughout the technology sector. Ether (ETH) also moved lower, losing 0.5% to trade near $2,044, while the CoinDesk 80 Index declined 1%. Over the previous 24 hours, BTC and ETH registered losses of 0.8% and 0.7%, respectively.

Nvidia shares faced significant selling pressure, falling approximately 7% in premarket trading. The move followed a New York Times report concerning an alleged relationship between CEO Jensen Huang and a company executive. Separately, The Wall Street Journal reported that Nvidia’s board was preparing to remove Huang from his position. The company has not confirmed any plans to replace its chief executive.

The weakness also spread to broader equity markets. Nasdaq-100 futures slipped 0.6%, reversing some of Wednesday’s gains that had been supported by positive sentiment surrounding AI infrastructure provider CoreWeave.

Meanwhile, continued withdrawals from institutional investment products added to Bitcoin’s downside pressure. According to SoSoValue, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $299.9 million in net outflows on Wednesday, extending their negative run to five consecutive trading sessions. Total withdrawals since November 5 have now reached approximately $1.44 billion.

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) accounted for the largest portion of the latest redemptions, recording $269.7 million in outflows. The fund has now experienced nine consecutive trading sessions of withdrawals.

Market participants are awaiting the latest U.S. initial jobless claims figures, scheduled for release at 13:30 UTC, while monitoring further developments surrounding Nvidia’s leadership. The Federal Reserve’s December 8–9 policy meeting is also attracting attention, with CME FedWatch data showing approximately 90% odds of an interest rate hike.

Crypto Futures Data Highlights Retreating Trader Confidence

Overall derivatives activity moves lower: Cryptocurrency futures volume declined 20.64% over 24 hours to $168.6 billion, while combined open interest (OI) dropped 2.92% to $125.8 billion. The simultaneous contraction suggests that traders are reducing leveraged exposure and unwinding positions. Total liquidations decreased 63.67% to $263.7 million, with bullish positions accounting for 64.5% of the losses.

Bitcoin futures indicate continued bearish pressure: BTC futures open interest decreased 2.9%, considerably more than the cryptocurrency’s 0.6% price decline. Trading volume also contracted 27.6%, while cumulative volume delta (CVD) stayed negative, reflecting stronger selling activity through market orders. Funding rates remained moderately positive, showing that leveraged long traders continued paying short sellers. Bitcoin recorded $62.9 million in liquidations, the highest amount among digital assets.

Ether derivatives experience a deeper trading slowdown: ETH futures open interest fell 1.8%, alongside a 0.6% decline in its underlying price. Trading volume recorded a sharper 37.2% contraction, the largest reduction among major cryptocurrencies. However, CVD remained close to neutral, indicating that buying and selling activity was relatively balanced. Moderately positive funding rates suggested that long traders were still paying short-position holders.

Monero funding rates reveal expensive bullish positioning: The annualized average funding rate for Monero (XMR) perpetual futures surged to approximately 80%, significantly exceeding the levels observed across other major cryptocurrencies. This indicates that traders maintaining leveraged long positions are paying substantial fees to short sellers. Bitcoin and Ether also recorded positive funding rates, although at much lower levels. GRAM, formerly known as Toncoin, remained an exception, with negative funding rates indicating payments from short traders to longs.

Selling pressure dominates derivatives order flow: Open-interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta remained negative for Bitcoin and several other major digital assets. This suggests that aggressive market orders continued to favor sellers, highlighting cautious positioning across the derivatives sector. GRAM, NEAR, and ZEC were among the few cryptocurrencies showing positive readings.

Dogecoin and Zcash futures see declining open interest: DOGE futures open interest dropped 5.9% as the token lost 1.5% in value. ZEC futures open interest also contracted 5.4%, despite the cryptocurrency recording a smaller 0.4% decline. Nevertheless, Zcash maintained positive CVD, suggesting that buyers continued to dominate aggressive order flow even as outstanding futures positions decreased.

Bitcoin options show stronger demand for downside protection: BTC’s one-week options skew increased slightly to approximately 11%, indicating that put options remained more expensive relative to calls. At the same time, one-week implied volatility declined to around 35% from 38% on Tuesday, suggesting expectations of relatively limited near-term price fluctuations. Four of the six most actively traded contracts were calls, with the $80,000 strike expiring December 25 leading trading activity. The remaining two were put contracts at $73,000 and $74,000, both expiring November 13.

Ether options maintain a defensive market position: ETH’s one-week options skew climbed to approximately 12%, reflecting continued demand for downside protection. Put contracts represented four of the six most actively traded options, although the $2,200 call expiring November 20 attracted the highest trading volume.

GRAM Rallies While DeFi Assets Continue to Underperform

GRAM maintains its position at the top of the market: GRAM, the rebranded Toncoin, gained 5.2% from midnight UTC, leading the CoinDesk 100 for a second consecutive session. Growing engagement with Telegram’s wallet ecosystem appears to be supporting the rally. Founder Pavel Durov recently disclosed that more than 700,000 wallets were created through the application within 48 hours.

Zcash rebounds as governance proposal gains attention: ZEC recovered 2.4% following a difficult start to the week. A proposed governance initiative aims to withdraw 50,000 ZEC, valued at approximately $50 million, from the Zcash Community Grants treasury. Token holders are expected to vote on the proposal between November 16 and November 30.

Render declines as AI-related sentiment weakens: RENDER fell 3.1% as Nvidia’s sharp stock decline affected investor confidence in artificial intelligence-linked cryptocurrency projects. The token powers a decentralized GPU computing network, making broader sentiment toward AI infrastructure particularly relevant to its market performance.

Avalanche advances on tokenized securities developments: AVAX gained 2% after investors continued assessing Monday’s announcement involving a clearing company connected to a proposed NYSE-affiliated tokenized securities platform. The company intends to utilize Avalanche’s blockchain, subject to regulatory approval.

DeFi cryptocurrencies experience widespread losses: The CoinDesk DeFi Select Index (DFX) declined 1.6%, reflecting weakness across decentralized finance assets. Aave (AAVE), ether.fi (ETHFI), and Ethena (ENA) recorded declines ranging from 2.5% to 3.3%. Monero suffered a larger 4.5% drop, becoming the weakest-performing cryptocurrency in the CoinDesk 100 despite the absence of an identifiable market catalyst.

Altcoin Season Indicators Continue Pointing to Weak Market Conditions

Broader market indicators suggest that alternative cryptocurrencies have yet to establish the momentum required for a sustained recovery.

CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index slipped to 39 out of 100, down from 40 in the previous session. The indicator remains significantly below the 75-point threshold generally used to identify an altcoin season, highlighting Bitcoin’s continued relative strength against the wider cryptocurrency market.

Investor sentiment also remains firmly negative. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index stood at 26, placing market conditions within the fear category. Continued ETF redemptions, declining derivatives activity, and uncertainty across traditional financial markets are keeping investors cautious and limiting the prospects of a broader altcoin rally.