The crypto market fell during Asian and European hours on Monday, with bitcoin falling to $63,100 from over $64,300 at the weekly close at midnight UTC.
This represents a decrease of approximately 1%. Bigger losses hit the altcoin market. Lighter (LIT) led the cascade of declines, sliding 8% in its first selloff since a more than 200% rally over the past two months.
The abandonment of riskier assets was also felt on the equity markets. South Korea’s Kospi index lost 9.2% as SK Hynix, the memory chip maker that went public in the United States on Friday, fell 15%. Japan’s Nikkei and China’s SSE both fell more than 2%.
The declines reflect renewed tensions in the Middle East as Iran and the United States vie for control of the Strait of Hormuz, with both countries launching airstrikes against each other.
U.S. stocks are also expected to open lower, with Nasdaq 100 Index futures and S&P 500 futures losing 0.9% and 0.25%, respectively, since midnight.
It’s worth noting that going into the weekend, bitcoin and the broader crypto market saw a period of bullish price action, moving away from immediate danger, and Monday’s selloff could also be attributed to profit-taking.
Positioning of derivative products
- Bitcoin derivatives positioning remained stable this week. Open interest (OI) remained stable at $17 billion, while the three-month annualized basis held steady at 3.8%.
- Funding rates have changed little to become positive on several sites, with Bybit being the notable exception at around -13% annualized across BTC players. Stable OI, a solid base and constructive financing suggest the market maintains its position without significant new leverage being added in either direction.
- Options positioning has turned bullish. The 24-hour put/call ratio sits at 64/36 in favor of calls, and while the one-week delta skew remains elevated at 16%, it has narrowed from 26% a week ago, suggesting that buying demand is waning rather than expanding.
- The at-the-money term structure remains in contango, with the front end around 34% to 35% and the long end at around 43% through mid-2027, implying that traders see a calm volatility environment in the long term.
- Data from Coinglass shows $253 million in liquidations over 24 hours, with a 76-24 split between long and short positions. BTC ($70 million) and ETH ($60 million) are leading in terms of notional liquidations.
- The Binance liquidation heatmap shows $62,000 as the base liquidation level to watch, in case of a price decline.
Symbolic discussion
- AI tokens FET and NEAR showed strength, rising around 1.5% each despite losses across the rest of the market.
- Hyperliquid (HYPE) followed its rival LIT lower, falling about 3.3% to $65.1, its lowest point since July 2.
- CoinMarketCap’s “Altcoin Season” indicator reflects recent volatility. The index stands at 56/100, up from last week’s average of 50. This implies a greater appetite for risk on the part of investors after months of heavy losses.
- One of the most volatile tokens in recent times has been which suffered a grueling 39% drop in June before rebounding more than 40% in early July. It has since retraced this upward trend, losing 19% since July 4.
- Solana-based decentralized exchange Jupiter (JUP) has also struggled lately, losing more than 15% over the past week with daily trading volume falling to just $17 million, down from 2025, when it regularly topped $500 million.
