Bitcoin fell below $84,000 early Wednesday as rising oil prices intensified selling across the crypto market, sending total liquidations sharply higher.

BTC moved below $84,000 shortly after midnight UTC as Iran stepped up attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude climbed past $101 a barrel, while U.S. Treasury yields and the dollar also advanced.

Smaller cryptocurrencies suffered larger declines than bitcoin. The CoinDesk 80 index dropped nearly 4% over 24 hours, compared with a 2.5% decline for the CoinDesk 5. DeFi tokens fell almost 6%, while the Memecoin Index lost roughly 5%. SAND, PUMP and STX were among the few tokens posting gains since midnight UTC.

Crypto liquidations rose 235% to $547 million during the 24-hour period, according to CoinGlass. Ether positions accounted for $174 million of the liquidated positions, while ETH traded near $2,600, down 3.5% since midnight.

Despite the broader weakness, U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs recorded $119 million in net inflows Tuesday, according to SoSoValue. It was their fourth inflow session in the last five trading days.

Fed Minutes in Focus

The Federal Reserve is scheduled to release minutes from its September meeting later Wednesday. Policymakers raised interest rates by 25 basis points at that meeting, while weaker employment figures have since reduced expectations for another rate hike this month.

Traders will focus on whether the minutes show that Fed officials favor remaining patient or continue to leave open the possibility of another increase before year-end, LVRG Research chief analyst Dan Khus told CoinDesk.

Futures Market Shows Cautious Positioning

Crypto derivatives activity increased as prices weakened. Futures volume rose 16% to $182.85 billion over 24 hours, while open interest slipped 1% to $152.60 billion. Liquidations increased 216% to $548 million, and short positions accounted for more than 52% of taker volume.

The combination of rising trading volume, nearly unchanged open interest and seller-heavy flows suggests traders are actively repositioning rather than adding significant new bullish leverage.

Bitcoin futures open interest recovered to 660,000 BTC from 626,000 BTC on Sept. 30, an 11-month low. However, it remains below the 800,000 BTC record reached earlier this year, indicating that leveraged bullish exposure has not fully returned.

Large traders are also showing mixed signals. Whale positions on Binance lean bullish on bitcoin, while positioning on OKX is bearish to neutral. Binance whale positioning remains bearish for ETH, SOL and XRP.

Ether futures OI climbed to 13.22 million ETH from 12.5 million. Sustaining that increase could push OI above the downtrend extending from the May peak of about 15.95 million ETH, potentially pointing to renewed derivatives activity.

STX gained nearly 6% to become the strongest performer among the top 100 cryptocurrencies. Its futures OI increased 3%, with price and open interest rising together, a pattern that suggests fresh long positions. AVAX and DOT also recorded notable OI gains.

Funding rates for BTC and ETH perpetual futures turned slightly negative, meaning short traders were paying long traders. Negative 24-hour cumulative volume delta readings across major tokens further indicated aggressive selling.

Volatility Remains Low

Bitcoin and ether 30-day implied volatility remained close to yearly lows, while the VIX was also near its annual low. Bond-market volatility, however, has been increasing, creating the possibility that the gap between crypto and fixed-income volatility could narrow.

Low implied volatility has also made options relatively inexpensive for traders looking to hedge positions.

On Deribit, bitcoin calls with strikes above $80,000 accounted for a large portion of 24-hour options volume. Options skew remained broadly neutral, with ether showing a similar pattern.

Altcoins Take Bigger Hit

Ethereum Layer-2 tokens were among the market’s weakest performers after reports that Pudgy Penguins’ Abstract had become the second Layer-2 network to shut down within a week.

Optimism fell 10% over 24 hours, making it the biggest decliner in the CoinDesk 100. Mantle also dropped around 10%, while Arbitrum declined roughly 7% and PENGU fell more than 7%.

Solana was down about 1%, but several tokens in its ecosystem recorded much steeper losses. Jito fell nearly 8%, while Jupiter declined 6%.

Cardano’s ADA dropped 7.5% to about 26 cents after trading above 27 cents Monday, its highest level since May. The decline came despite Cardano enabling issuers to freeze, seize and restrict assets.

UNI fell nearly 9%, LDO lost 8%, while CAKE and PENDLE each declined around 8%.

SAND moved against the broader trend, rising 9% over 24 hours to lead the CoinDesk 100. It had already gained 37% on Oct. 2. STX rose 4% and XMR gained about 1%, making them some of the few major tokens to remain in positive territory.