Bitcoin Under Pressure, Hovering at $62,500 as Bears Tighten Control

Bitcoin stayed above $62,500 while ether held near $1,665, but muted price action and a growing tilt toward put options suggest bearish sentiment remains in control.

Crypto markets remained weak on Wednesday, with Bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) each edging down less than 0.4% since midnight UTC. The CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) slipped 0.9%, with 18 of its constituents finishing in the red.

The lack of any meaningful rebound is increasingly notable, especially as U.S. equity futures attempted to recover after Tuesday’s tech-led selloff.

Still, a small group of altcoins moved higher, with Jupiter (JUP) and Monero (XMR) gaining 2%–4%, showing that pockets of demand persist even in a broadly risk-off environment.

Bitcoin now sits close to a key psychological level at $60,000. A break below it could drag price action back into a range last seen in late 2024, with $52,000 emerging as an important downside reference.

Derivatives positioning

Activity in derivatives markets has slowed, with trading volume down 27% to $141 billion over the past 24 hours. Open interest rose 2% to $106 billion, while liquidations totaled $158 million, the lowest in two weeks.

BTC futures open interest remains stable at about 730,000 BTC for the eighth straight session, signaling consolidation.

ETH futures, however, have picked up again, with open interest rising to 14.3 million ETH—its highest in two weeks, up from a recent low of 13.74 million. This came as ETH dropped from roughly $1,780 to $1,650, a setup often associated with short positioning into weakness.

Funding rates are still slightly positive, but negative 24-hour cumulative volume delta (CVD) shows sellers are dominating price action through aggressive orders.

SOL futures continue to build, with open interest reaching a record 77.68 million tokens. However, negative funding and CVD readings suggest the increase is largely driven by new shorts.

ZEC futures, by contrast, are cooling, with open interest falling to 2 million tokens from about 2.55 million last month.

Overall, bearish positioning is dominant across most major tokens, reflected in negative OI-adjusted CVDs for a second straight day.

Bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility index (BVIV) eased to 43%, down from nearly 48% earlier in the week, with ether showing a similar decline.

On Deribit, one-week options skew widened to 10.9 volatility points in favor of puts, up from about 7 points, signaling stronger demand for downside protection. One-month skew also expanded.

Block activity on Paradigm included a $62,000-strike straddle expiring July 3, typically used to position for increased volatility in either direction.

Token performance

While Monero (XMR) and Jupiter (JUP) posted gains, tokens including Ethena (ENA), Pump (PUMP), and Stellar (XLM) fell between 2.2% and 3.5%.

Ethena has now lost more than 90% of its value from its peak of $0.87 last September, highlighting stress in yield strategies that depend on sustained bullish funding conditions.

Similar weakness is visible in legacy assets like Litecoin (LTC) and Cardano (ADA), both still well below their 2021 highs and stuck in longer-term downtrends.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) continues to strengthen, nearing its May 2025 peak. A stronger dollar typically weighs on crypto and other risk assets as investors shift toward safety.