Bitcoin remained under pressure on Tuesday even as U.S. stock markets staged a significant recovery during the previous session. Spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $201 million in withdrawals on Monday, adding to market concerns as traders awaited October’s U.S. inflation report for clues about the Federal Reserve’s next policy moves.

Bitcoin (BTC) hovered around $74,200 after declining from the start of the UTC trading day. The cryptocurrency briefly touched $74,100 overnight before stabilizing near its current level. Investors are closely monitoring the upcoming inflation figures, which could influence expectations for interest rates and determine the direction of risk assets.

Ether (ETH) lost 1.4%, while the CoinDesk 80 (CD80) index slipped 0.2%. The CoinDesk Memecoin Index (CDMEME) performed slightly better, posting a 0.4% increase.

The U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) report will be published at 13:30 UTC. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect headline CPI to increase 0.3% in October, with core inflation projected to rise 0.2%. These estimates represent a slowdown from September’s respective increases of 0.6% and 0.3%.

Meanwhile, U.S. equities enjoyed a strong rebound on Monday. The S&P 500 posted its biggest daily gain since April 8, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 2.7%, recovering some of the ground lost during last week’s AI-related selloff. Bitcoin showed little reaction to the recovery, remaining relatively unchanged over the previous 24 hours.

According to Farside Investors, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded combined net outflows of $201 million on Monday. BlackRock’s IBIT experienced the largest withdrawals, losing $213.2 million in a single session. The fund has now recorded seven straight trading days of net outflows.

Crypto derivatives market

Futures liquidations fall 84%: Cryptocurrency futures liquidations declined to approximately $184 million over 24 hours, representing an 84% reduction from the more than $1 billion recorded on Monday. Trading volume also contracted 8.55% to $165.2 billion, while aggregate open interest increased slightly by 0.59% to $128.4 billion. The figures suggest that leveraged trading activity has cooled considerably. The taker long/short ratio remained almost evenly divided, with buyers accounting for 49.69% and sellers making up 50.31%.

Funding rates indicate a preference for long positions: Annualized funding rates remained marginally positive across most major cryptocurrencies, including BTC and ETH. Positive funding means traders holding long positions are compensating those holding shorts. GRAM, formerly known as Toncoin, moved in the opposite direction, with funding rates approaching -60%, indicating unusually heavy bearish positioning.

Market-order activity remains divided: Cumulative volume delta (CVD), which measures aggressive buying against selling and is adjusted for open interest in this dataset, highlighted different trends among major tokens. GRAM, Hedera (HBAR) and Tron (TRX) attracted the strongest market-order buying over the past day. Zcash (ZEC), Uniswap (UNI) and XRP recorded the most significant selling activity.

Major cryptocurrencies experience limited open-interest growth: Bitcoin’s notional open interest advanced 0.70% as its price gained 0.25%. Ether open interest increased 0.72% despite a 0.35% price decline. Solana (SOL) recorded a 1.94% rise in open interest while falling 1.06% in price. These developments indicate that traders continued building futures exposure even as the underlying assets struggled to maintain upward momentum.

HYPE and XRP see futures exposure decline: Hyperliquid’s HYPE token recorded a 1.14% reduction in open interest despite gaining 1.62% in price. The divergence suggests that traders were closing or reducing futures positions during the advance. XRP experienced an even larger 3.83% decline in open interest, accompanied by a 0.69% price drop. The token also showed considerable market-order selling pressure.

Zcash futures positioning weakens: ZEC open interest decreased 3.31% as its price dropped 5.41% over the same period. The smaller decline in open interest suggests that much of the reduction reflected the falling market value of outstanding contracts rather than a major exit of futures capital. However, CVD readings showed that Zcash faced the strongest aggressive selling among the tracked cryptocurrencies.

AVAX records a notable increase in futures activity: Avalanche’s AVAX token experienced a 13% jump in open interest over 24 hours, significantly exceeding its 5% price appreciation. This indicates that additional capital entered the futures market as the token rallied. Despite the increase, CVD remained negative, suggesting that aggressive sellers continued to dominate market-order activity. Funding rates were approximately -6% on an annualized basis, meaning short traders were paying long traders. The price movement followed Ava Labs’ November 9 announcement that Avalanche would serve as the primary ledger for clearing and settlement on a proposed tokenized securities platform associated with the New York Stock Exchange.

Bitcoin options traders favor protective puts: Bitcoin’s 25-delta options skew remained positive across expiration periods, reaching approximately 10% for one-week contracts. This reflects stronger demand for put options, which provide protection against downside price movements, compared with call options. One-week at-the-money implied volatility remained around 38%. The most actively traded contracts were also concentrated in puts, particularly the $74,000 strike expiring November 13.

Ether options trading remains concentrated in calls: Ether’s one-week options skew stood near 11%, indicating that put options continued to carry a premium over calls. However, trading volume was dominated by call contracts, with the December 25 $2,600 strike recording the highest activity. At-the-money implied volatility remained relatively consistent across expiration dates, ranging from 53% to 54%.

Altcoin market developments

Avalanche (AVAX) gained around 5% over the previous 24 hours after the New York Stock Exchange selected its blockchain infrastructure for clearing and settlement on a planned around-the-clock tokenized securities platform. However, the token was still down 2.6% since midnight UTC.

XDC Network (XDC), a layer-1 blockchain focused on real-world asset tokenization, emerged as the leading performer in the CoinDesk 100 on Tuesday. The token climbed 7% since midnight UTC, outperforming most other large-cap cryptocurrencies.

Privacy coins experienced renewed selling pressure after outperforming much of the market last week. Monero (XMR) declined 7.8% over 24 hours, while Zcash (ZEC) dropped 6.3%. The reversal coincided with growing investor interest in tokens connected to real-world asset infrastructure.

Hyperliquid (HYPE) received a new trading listing on Upbit, South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, with trading beginning at 06:00 UTC. Despite the development, the token fell 0.9% since midnight UTC and traded near $74.50. HYPE remains approximately 22% below its late-October high of $96.

Pieverse (PIEVERSE) was another notable gainer, surging roughly 30% during the session. The project allows AI agents to process transactions through messaging platforms, including Telegram and WhatsApp. Its recent X post hinted at plans for an AI agent trading desk, although the team has not provided confirmation of a launch date.

The broader altcoin market continued to show signs of weakness. CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index stood at 40 out of 100, compared with 62 one month earlier. The decline indicates that fewer alternative cryptocurrencies are outperforming Bitcoin, reflecting a more selective market environment.