The crypto market pulled back in Asian and European hours on Monday with bitcoin falling to $63,100 from above $64,300 at the weekly close at midnight UTC.
This is a decrease of around 1 per cent. Steeper losses hit the altcoin market. Lighter (LIT) led the downward cascade, falling 8% in its first major selloff since surging more than 200% over the past two months.
The departure from riskier assets could also be felt across the equity markets. South Korea’s Kospi index lost 9.2% as SK Hynix, the maker of memory chips that went public in the US on Friday, fell 15%. Japan’s Nikkei and China’s SSE both fell more than 2%.
The declines reflected resurgent tensions in the Middle East as Iran and the United States battled for control of the Strait of Hormuz, with both nations launching airstrikes at each other.
US stocks are also tipped to open lower, with Nasdaq 100 index futures and S&P 500 futures down 0.9% and 0.25%, respectively, since midnight.
It’s worth noting that going into the weekend, bitcoin and the broader crypto market have enjoyed a period of bullish price action that steered itself away from immediate danger, and Monday’s selloff could also be attributed to profit-taking.
Derivatives positioning
- Bitcoin derivative positioning held steady this week. Open interest (OI) was steady at $17 billion, while the three-month annualized basis held at 3.8%.
- Funding rates were little changed to positive across multiple venues, with Bybit the notable exception at around -13% y/y on BTC perps. Stable OI along with solid fundamentals and constructive funding suggest the market is holding its positioning without adding meaningful new leverage in either direction
- Option positioning has tilted bullish. The 24-hour put/call ratio stands at 64/36 in favor of calls, and while the one-week delta bias remains elevated at 16%, it has narrowed from 26% a week ago, suggesting demand for calls is easing rather than building.
- The at-the-money time structure remains in contango, with the front end around 34%-35% and the long end at ~43% through mid-2027, implying traders see a calm long-term volatility environment
- Coinglass data shows $253 million in 24-hour liquidations, with a 76-24 split between longs and shorts. BTC ($70 million) and ETH ($60 million) led in terms of notional liquidations.
- The Binance liquidation heatmap indicates $62,000 as a core liquidation level to monitor in the event of a price drop.
Token talk
- AI tokens FET and NEAR showed strength, rising by around 1.5% each despite the rest of the market suffering losses.
- Hyperliquid ( HYPE ) followed rival LIT down, falling about 3.3% to $65.1, its lowest point since July 2.
- CoinMarketCap’s “Altcoin Season” indicator reflects recent volatility. The reading stands at 56/100 after rising from last week’s average of 50. This implies more risk-on sentiment from investors after months of heavy losses.
- One of the most volatile tokens of late has been which suffered a grueling 39% slump in June before rising more than 40% in early July. It has since recovered that shift and has lost 19% since July 4th.
- Solana-based decentralized exchange Jupiter (JUP) has also struggled of late, losing more than 15% over the past week as daily trading volume fell to just $17 million, down from 2025, when it regularly topped $500 million.
