The crypto market suffered a massive sell-off on Tuesday with bitcoin approaching its lowest level since June and the ether trading at $3,480, the lowest since August.
Selling pressure has led to approximately $1.4 billion in liquidations on derivatives exchanges, which at press time are performing better than in October, when Binance’s automatic deleveraging engine wreaked havoc by liquidating large numbers of traders.
One of the catalysts for the selloff is the strength of the dollar, with the DXY index hitting 100 for the first time since July after rebounding to 96.2 in September.
The dollar is rising as analysts suggest the Federal Reserve will slow its rate cut cycle. This led to a bearish reversal in risk assets like bitcoin and the broader crypto market.
Positioning of derivative products
By Omkar Godbole
- Volmex’s Bitcoin Volatility Index, BVIV, which represents implied or expected 30-day price turbulence, is rising, following the golden cross of its 50- and 200-day moving averages.
- The BTC spot price has developed a negative correlation with volatility over the past year, meaning further BVIV gains could be marked by price weakness.
- Positioning in ZEC remains high, with open positions (OIs) near lifetime highs of around 1.59 million ZEC. However, funding rates have turned bearish, a sign that some traders are shorting futures contracts, possibly against long spot positions.
- On the CME, BTC and ETH futures continue to see divergent trends, with activity primarily focused on Ether futures, where OI remains near record highs.
- On Deribit, BTC options show a bias toward puts across all time frames, a sign of continued downside concerns. Ether options are showing an uptrend after the February 2026 expiration.
- OTC flows on Paradigm included demand for ether expiring on November 7 at a strike price of $3,500.
Symbolic discussion
By Olivier Knight
- The altcoin market suffered a bruising session in Asia, with several tokens falling more than 15%, leading to a wave of liquidations of $1.37 billion, according to CoinGlass.
- Aster Rival HyperLiquid led the decline, sliding 18% to $0.88. Oddly enough, that’s lower than the price paid by Binance founder CZ, who announced a $1.8 million purchase at $0.90 over the weekend.
- “Every time I buy coins I get stuck in a losing position, 100% record,” CZ wrote Tuesday X.
- Many tokens, including now find themselves at critical support levels that led to a rebound two weeks ago, although it should be noted that companies like Solana and BNB fell to new lows.
- One sector that has outperformed the market as a whole is privacy coins, with And both still in the green for the month.
- Tuesday was also marked by exceptional gatherings And two tokens considered “dinosaur coins” by some as they were launched in 2017 and 2014 respectively. Both tokens have privacy features and appear to be inspired by XMR and ZEC.
- DCR is up 146% while DASH is up 65% on heavy volume, demonstrating that traders may be moving away from the broader, weaker market.
