Bitcoin Remains Under Pressure Amid Mixed Crypto Market Signals

Bitcoin Faces Headwinds as On-Chain Activity Signals Weak Adoption

Bitcoin (BTC $109,706) rebounded from early Asian-session lows near $108,760 to above $110,000, but analysts warn that the path to a sustained recovery remains limited. On-chain metrics point to weak network engagement, suggesting a lack of underlying market support.

Timothy Misir, head of research at BRN, noted: “RSI is near oversold and MACD is bearish. Spot CVD at –$199 million shows sellers dominate, while Daily Active Addresses dropped to 692K, indicating declining participation.”

The broader crypto market also remains under pressure. The CoinDesk 20 and CoinDesk 80 indices fell 2% and 1.7% over 24 hours.

Derivatives and Liquidations

Leveraged traders were hit hard, with $940 million in futures liquidated over the past day, including $800 million in long positions. Ether accounted for $320 million of the total. BTC open interest (OI) remains elevated above 740K BTC, while ETH OI pulled back slightly to 14 million from 14.6 million. SOL, XRP, DOGE, ADA, and LINK also saw OI declines, reflecting net outflows.

Funding rates across most major tokens remain positive, except for SHIB, ADA, and SOL, indicating a continued dominance of bullish positions. CME BTC futures OI fell to 137.3K from 145.2K, showing muted institutional activity, while options OI continues to climb. On Deribit, the upcoming multibillion-dollar expiry skews toward BTC puts, signaling bearish sentiment, while ETH expiry is more balanced. OTC flows at Paradigm are mixed, with BTC put buying and ETH calls and risk reversals.

NFT Market Weakens Alongside ETH Pullback

Blue-chip NFT collections faced steep weekly declines as ETH retraced from record highs, erasing more than 10% of value in most top projects.

Pudgy Penguins: down 17% to 10.32 ETH
BAYC: down 14.7% to 9.59 ETH
Doodles: down 18.9% to 0.73 ETH
Moonbirds: down 10.5%
Lil Pudgys: down 14.6%
CryptoPunks: down just 1.35%, maintaining defensive appeal

Trading volumes remained elevated despite floor drops. Pudgy Penguins led with 2,112 ETH ($9.36M), followed by Moonbirds (1,979 ETH), CryptoPunks (1,879 ETH), and BAYC (809 ETH). Overall NFT market capitalization declined nearly 5% to $7.7 billion from $9.3 billion on Aug. 13, demonstrating how quickly capital exits weaker projects when ETH falls. CryptoPunks’ relative stability reinforces its role as a defensive, collateral-grade asset, while newer collections remain high-beta ETH proxies.