Bitcoin slipped back toward $79,000 on Wednesday as traders secured profits following a 23% weekly rally, although continued inflows into U.S. spot ETFs suggest demand for the asset remains strong.

BTC was trading around $79,000, down approximately 1.2% over the past 24 hours. The broader CoinDesk 20 Index also declined, losing about 2.1%.

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs continued their positive run on Tuesday, attracting around $314 million in net inflows. It marked the seventh consecutive day of inflows and pushed August’s total above $3 billion, according to SoSoValue.

The rapid price increase has also lifted market optimism. Alternative.me’s Crypto Fear & Greed Index surged to 74 from 27 less than two weeks earlier before retreating, showing how quickly sentiment has shifted.

Pedro Fontes, a research analyst at Mercado Bitcoin, identified $82,000 and $85,000 as the next resistance levels for Bitcoin. He said a period of consolidation would be a normal outcome after such a steep rally.

Elsewhere, gold held near $4,630 an ounce after reaching a three-month high. Asian stocks moved higher, while U.S. equity futures were mostly flat ahead of inflation figures and Nvidia’s earnings report. Oil prices fell for a third straight session.

Derivatives Market Shows Mixed Signals

Taker activity turns slightly bearish: The long-short taker volume ratio moved into negative territory ahead of important economic data releases. Short trades accounted for 51.64% of 24-hour taker volume, indicating a modest increase in selling pressure.

Falling BTC futures OI is constructive: Bitcoin’s spot price declined toward $78,500 while futures open interest dropped below 700,000 BTC. Lower prices combined with falling OI suggest traders are reducing existing positions rather than aggressively building new shorts. Ether and XRP futures displayed similar patterns.

SOL open interest edges higher: Solana futures OI rose for a third consecutive session to 65.53 million tokens, although the figure is only the highest level seen in about a week.

SUI futures reach record levels: SUI futures open interest climbed to approximately 838 million tokens, a new record. However, SUI’s spot price dropped more than 5% over 24 hours, suggesting the increase in OI may be linked to additional short positioning. Negative OI-adjusted CVD also signals bearish pressure.

Broader market selling persists: CVD remains negative across many major cryptocurrencies, suggesting market participants are increasingly executing sell orders directly at available prices rather than using passive limit orders.

Volatility indicators ease: Bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility gauge, BVIV, continued to retreat from its recent spike. This suggests traders are increasingly expecting BTC to consolidate near $80,000 after its strong rally. Ether’s EVIV is showing a similar decline.

Bullish BTC options remain popular: On Deribit, traders are showing increased interest in Bitcoin call options with strikes ranging from $82,000 to $100,000. Calls offer upside exposure without requiring direct ownership of BTC. Ether is experiencing similar demand for bullish options.

Token Performance

PYTH gained 11% over 24 hours, making it one of the market’s strongest performers ahead of the planned Pyth Core infrastructure upgrade. The update is expected to deliver faster price feeds, additional data sources and reduced latency.

ZRO also posted a double-digit gain after LayerZero introduced ATLAS, a trading and settlement engine that plans to use 75% of remaining revenue to buy and burn ZRO.

Bitcoin, Ether and Solana, meanwhile, edged lower as traders continued taking profits after their strong weekly advances.

Zcash fell 7.3% over 24 hours after Grayscale’s spot ZEC ETF began trading. The decline followed a roughly 56% gain in ZEC over the previous week, suggesting a sell-the-news reaction.

INJ, ENA and VIRTUAL also moved lower, dropping 6.8%, 6.5% and 5.2%, respectively.