Bitcoin Stabilizes Near $76,900 as ETF Withdrawals and Binance Outflows Continue

Bitcoin gained 0.2% to approximately $76,900 since midnight UTC after briefly falling to around $76,300 during the European morning. The modest recovery came as US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded another $399 million in withdrawals and Binance experienced billions of dollars in net customer outflows.

The altcoin market delivered mixed results. Ether (ETH) advanced 0.6%, while the DeFi index (DFX) added 0.5%. The CoinDesk Memecoin Index moved in the opposite direction, declining 0.8%.

US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded $399 million in net outflows on Monday, marking their second consecutive session of withdrawals, according to Farside Investors. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) accounted for $405 million in outflows, its largest single-day withdrawal since June.

Meanwhile, Binance customers have withdrawn a net $4.72 billion since the exchange resumed services on Sunday. That figure exceeds the $3.64 billion in net withdrawals recorded on the reopening day.

Security concerns also resurfaced across the cryptocurrency industry. Brazilian exchange Mercado Bitcoin reportedly suffered an attack that resulted in approximately $40 million being removed from its hot wallets.

Traditional markets showed some resilience ahead of the US midterm elections. Nasdaq futures rose 0.3%, while Brent crude gained 1.3% to approximately $106 per barrel since midnight UTC. The Nasdaq Composite had dropped 1.1% on Monday as technology shares faced another round of selling.

Investors are also preparing for AMD’s earnings report after the market closes and the US jobs report scheduled for Friday.

Crypto Derivatives Show Increased Trading Activity

Crypto futures trading volume surged 51% over 24 hours to $168.1 billion, while total open interest declined 1.63% to $134.9 billion.

The combination of higher trading volume and falling open interest for a second consecutive day suggests that traders are actively adjusting or closing positions rather than building substantial new leveraged bets. Uncertainty surrounding the US midterm elections, early results and media projections expected on Wednesday may be contributing to the activity.

Liquidations, which occur when exchanges forcibly close leveraged positions, climbed 171% to $382.6 million. Market activity also tilted toward sellers, with sell orders accounting for 51.12% of taker volume, compared with a nearly balanced buying and selling split during the previous session.

Ether Futures See Greater Position Closures

Ether futures open interest declined 2.18%, exceeding ETH’s 0.83% price drop. The difference suggests that traders were closing positions and withdrawing exposure from the market.

Bitcoin futures open interest fell 1.20% alongside a 1.23% price decline, indicating relatively limited changes in overall positioning.

The cumulative volume delta (CVD), which measures the difference between aggressive buying and selling orders, showed positive readings for ETH but negative readings for Bitcoin.

Funding rates remained positive for both assets and increased compared with the previous day. This means traders holding long positions are paying those on the short side to maintain their futures exposure.

Zcash Records the Largest Decline Among Major Tokens

Zcash (ZEC) posted the steepest decline among the tracked cryptocurrencies, falling 7.57%. Its futures open interest dropped 6.13%, slightly less than the price decline.

ZEC also recorded the most negative cumulative volume delta among major cryptocurrencies, indicating that aggressive market selling significantly exceeded buying activity.

Funding remained positive but declined from its level 24 hours earlier. Long-position holders were still paying short sellers, although the payment imbalance had narrowed.

Positive Funding Rates Dominate the Market

Most major cryptocurrencies continued to show positive funding rates, indicating that traders holding bullish futures positions were paying a premium to maintain their exposure.

Cardano’s ADA, Sui’s SUI and NEAR recorded some of the highest positive funding readings across major exchanges, including Binance, OKX, Bybit, Hyperliquid and Deribit.

Hedera’s HBAR and Chainlink’s LINK showed the most negative funding readings, although those signals appeared only on individual exchanges. No major token recorded negative funding across all the platforms examined.

Market-order selling also remained dominant. Most cryptocurrencies showed negative readings on the 24-hour open-interest-normalized CVD chart, suggesting that aggressive sellers controlled more trading activity than buyers.

Tron (TRX) recorded the strongest positive reading, while Zcash had the weakest.

Bitcoin Options Show Mixed Demand Ahead of Elections

Bitcoin options trading shifted toward a more balanced pattern during the latest 24-hour period.

The most actively traded contract was a November 7 call option with a $78,000 strike price, close to Bitcoin’s prevailing market value. This marked a change from the previous session, when put options dominated trading.

The November 27 $75,000 put ranked second, followed by a November 27 $100,000 call. Despite the increased activity in calls, four of the six most actively traded Bitcoin options were still puts.

Implied volatility on the nearest-expiring Bitcoin options climbed to approximately 51%, compared with around 43.5% for the November 4 expiry a day earlier. Ether options showed a similar increase, with short-dated implied volatility reaching approximately 59%.

Short-term volatility skew also remained significantly higher than longer-dated readings for both cryptocurrencies. This indicates that investors are paying a larger premium for put options, which provide protection against falling prices, over comparable calls.

Ether Options Traders Concentrate on Downside Protection

Demand for bearish protection was even more pronounced in the Ether options market.

All six of the most actively traded ETH options over the past 24 hours were put contracts. The leading position was a November 6 put with a $1,900 strike price, approximately 16% below ETH’s current market level.

The concentration of activity in puts highlights continued demand for downside protection as traders prepare for potential volatility around the US election.

Lighter Advances as NEAR Extends Its Decline

Lighter’s LIT token gained 2.3% as the perpetual futures trading platform prepared to seek regulatory registrations in the United States.

Founder Vladimir Novakovski said the exchange plans to submit applications to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) this month to register as a trading venue and clearing house. Any submission would begin a regulatory review process rather than guarantee approval.

NEAR continued to struggle, falling another 0.9% and extending its 24-hour decline to approximately 7%. The move placed it among the weakest performers in the CoinDesk 100.

The decline continued despite a Monday vote by NEAR’s House of Stake governance body to reduce the maximum annual token issuance rate to 1.6% from 2.5%.

Zcash recovered 1.2% to approximately $1,146 after losing around 8% from Monday morning amid disagreements over its community grants program. The network’s NU7 upgrade is expected to take place this week.

DeFi Tokens Outperform Despite Fresh Security Incidents

Decentralized finance tokens performed better than much of the wider cryptocurrency market. Aave’s AAVE token gained 1.5%, while Uniswap’s UNI advanced 0.8%.

Their gains came despite a series of security incidents affecting cryptocurrency platforms since Friday, including the reported attack on Mercado Bitcoin.

Market sentiment indicators remained cautious. CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index held steady at 46 out of 100, while its Fear and Greed Index slipped to 34 from 36, keeping the broader market sentiment firmly in the fear category.

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