Bitcoin Falls to $91K as ETF Redemptions Fuel Unease Across Crypto Markets

Bitcoin’s early-week gains unraveled as heavy ETF outflows, aggressive derivatives deleveraging, and muted altcoin reactions weighed on the broader crypto market. During the European morning session, Bitcoin (BTC) dipped to $91,200, down from a weekly high of $94,200 reached on Wednesday.

The pullback was largely confined to crypto markets. U.S. equities remained flat in pre-market trading, and the FTSE 100 rose 0.15%, underscoring the localized nature of the sell-off.

The pressure is attributed to record outflows from BlackRock’s IBIT Bitcoin ETF, which saw an additional $113 million withdrawn on Thursday. Crypto bulls failed to regain control as bearish momentum persisted. The Fear & Greed Index remains depressed at 25/100, staying well below neutral after hovering under 40/100 for over a month.

Derivatives positioning
BTC futures markets continue to show caution, with aggressive deleveraging underway. Open interest (OI) has fallen to $21 billion from $25 billion a month ago, reflecting lower leverage and risk exposure. Market derivatives metrics remain subdued: the three-month annualized basis is stable at 4%-5%, while funding rates remain steady at 5%-6%, showing no major shifts in the past month.

BTC options retain a bullish tilt despite declining volatility. Short-term implied volatility has shifted from backwardation to contango, suggesting lower expectations for extreme price moves. Call options continue to dominate, with 24-hour call volume at 57% of total options, and the one-week 25-delta skew has edged up to 8%, indicating traders are still paying a premium for short-term upside exposure.

The recent volatility triggered $280 million in liquidations over 24 hours, with $200 million in long positions. ETH ($88 million) and BTC ($85 million) accounted for the largest nominal liquidations.

Altcoin performance and key levels
The BTC/USDT liquidation heatmap on Binance shows significant long liquidations around $90,600, a key level to watch in case of further price declines.

Altcoins also struggled, with TAO, HYPE, and NEAR losing more than 6.5% over 24 hours. Ethereum (ETH) gave back most of its gains following the Fusaka upgrade, falling 2.62% from its daily high at 03:00 UTC. The muted ETH performance signals that even highly anticipated bullish catalysts are failing to drive the market.

The CoinDesk 20 (CD20) index mirrored ETH’s drop, while CDMEME, CoinDesk’s memecoin index, fell 5.8% in 24 hours. CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season indicator remains stagnant at 21/100, highlighting traders’ continued preference for Bitcoin and stablecoins.

Two notable exceptions were Zcash (ZEC) at $339.73, up 4.7%, and TRX, Tron’s native token, up 1.8%. ZEC is rebounding from an oversold phase on the RSI, while TRX shows strength across daily, weekly, and monthly charts, standing out amid the broader market weakness.