Bitcoin Consolidates Above $80K While Injective Jumps on Staked ETF News

Bitcoin traded slightly lower on Thursday, falling 0.2% to approximately $80,250 since midnight UTC, but continued to hold above the $80,000 level after Wednesday’s strong rebound. The recovery coincided with renewed institutional demand, as U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded positive flows following three consecutive days of withdrawals.

Bitcoin eased from its recent advance after climbing from around $78,000 on Wednesday. Ether slipped 0.4%, while the CoinDesk 80 Index gained 0.9%.

The broader crypto recovery followed an approximately 8% decline in oil prices and a rally in U.S. equities after the midterm election results. Bitcoin was up 2.5% over 24 hours, while Ether gained 4%. Brent crude traded near $95 per barrel, recovering slightly after Wednesday’s sharp drop.

According to Farside Investors, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted $74.6 million in net inflows on Wednesday, ending their three-day withdrawal streak.

In traditional markets, U.S. stock futures moved in different directions early Thursday. S&P 500 futures declined 0.1%, while Nasdaq-100 futures dropped 0.8%. Investors were also preparing for Thursday’s initial jobless claims data and Friday’s U.S. employment report.

Bitcoin Derivatives Point to a Short-Covering Rally

Futures trading activity increases: Cryptocurrency futures volume climbed 15% over 24 hours to $244 billion, while aggregate open interest increased just 1% to $139.9 billion. The relatively small change in open interest suggests that most activity involved adjustments to existing positions rather than substantial new investment.

Total liquidations jumped 53% to $715 million, with short positions accounting for approximately 65%. This indicates that traders betting on falling prices were forced to exit as the market moved higher.

The taker buy-sell volume ratio, which measures aggressive market orders, shifted to a slight selling bias at 50.6%, reversing the buying preference recorded the previous day.

Bitcoin’s recovery is largely driven by short liquidations: Bitcoin open interest increased only 0.3% despite a 2.6% price advance. Approximately 93% of the $267 million in Bitcoin liquidations involved short positions.

These figures indicate that forced closures of bearish trades contributed significantly to the rally, while relatively little fresh leveraged long positioning entered the market. However, funding rates remained positive and increased from the previous session, showing that long traders continued paying short sellers.

NEAR reverses its buying strength as Zcash momentum fades: NEAR Protocol shifted from the strongest market-order buying activity on Wednesday to the weakest position on Thursday. Its open interest declined 2.7% as its price dropped 1.1%, suggesting that traders were reducing their exposure. Funding rates remained positive, indicating that long positions continued paying shorts.

Zcash also recorded slower activity. Its open interest increased 3.5% alongside a 3.6% price gain, but the 25% increase in fresh capital seen the previous day did not return. Trading volume fell 13%.

CVD signals remain mixed: Open-interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta (CVD), which measures aggressive buying and selling through market orders, showed different trends across cryptocurrencies. SUI recorded some of the strongest positive readings, while TRX, GRAM and BNB showed comparatively stronger selling activity.

Funding rates show continued bullish positioning: Most cryptocurrencies maintained positive funding rates, meaning long traders were paying short sellers to keep their positions open. Monero’s XMR retained the highest positive funding rate, although it declined from Wednesday. GRAM and TRX recorded the most negative rates, indicating that short traders were paying long-position holders.

Bitcoin options show declining demand for downside protection: Bitcoin’s one-week options skew, which measures the additional premium paid for put options compared with call options, dropped to approximately 2% from 11% a day earlier.

This sharp decline suggests that traders have reduced their demand for short-term protection against falling prices. One-week implied volatility, which reflects expected market fluctuations, also eased to approximately 33%.

Call options dominate Bitcoin trading: Five of Bitcoin’s six most actively traded options contracts were calls, with strike prices ranging from $78,000 to $85,000. Only one put contract appeared among the leading positions.

This marked a change from Wednesday, when put options with strike prices of $75,000 and $68,000 also featured among the most active contracts. Ether displayed the opposite trend, with four of its six leading options contracts being puts positioned below its current market price.

Injective Gains as Nasdaq Approves Staked ETF Listing

Injective (INJ) led the CoinDesk 100 Index, climbing approximately 6% since midnight UTC after Nasdaq approved the listing of Canary Capital’s proposed staked INJ exchange-traded fund. According to an SEC filing, the product is expected to trade under the ticker INJC. INJ advanced approximately 10% over the previous 24 hours.

Venice Token (VVV), which recorded the strongest gains on Wednesday, reversed its upward momentum and fell 11% over 24 hours.

Official Trump (TRUMP) declined approximately 14%, becoming the weakest performer among the top 100 cryptocurrencies on CoinMarketCap. World Liberty Financial’s WLFI token also dropped around 4%. Both assets faced losses following Democratic victories in the U.S. midterm elections.

Meanwhile, overall market sentiment improved as the CoinMarketCap Fear and Greed Index increased to 42 from 37, returning to neutral territory. The Altcoin Season Index remained at 49, suggesting that a broader shift toward altcoin outperformance has yet to develop.