Bitcoin Trades Near $76,900 After Rebound as ETF Redemptions and Binance Outflows Continue

Bitcoin recovered slightly after touching an intraday low near $76,300 during European hours, rising 0.2% to approximately $76,900 since midnight UTC. The recovery came against a backdrop of continued institutional withdrawals, with US spot Bitcoin ETFs losing another $399 million and Binance customers pulling billions of dollars from the exchange.

The broader crypto market delivered mixed results. Ether advanced 0.6%, while the DeFi index gained 0.5%. The CoinDesk Memecoin Index declined 0.8%, showing that speculative tokens continued to face selling pressure.

Bitcoin Investment Funds See Second Day of Withdrawals

US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $399 million in net outflows on Monday, extending their negative flow streak to two consecutive sessions, according to Farside Investors.

BlackRock’s IBIT experienced the largest withdrawals, shedding $405 million in one day. The figure marked its biggest daily outflow since June.

Binance also continued to experience substantial customer withdrawals after reopening services on Sunday. Net outflows reached $4.72 billion, compared with $3.64 billion recorded on the exchange’s first day back.

Security concerns added to the pressure on the industry. Brazilian cryptocurrency exchange Mercado Bitcoin reportedly suffered a breach that resulted in approximately $40 million being removed from its hot wallets.

Traditional markets showed a different trend ahead of the US midterm elections. Nasdaq futures increased 0.3%, while Brent crude rose 1.3% to around $106 per barrel. The moves followed a 1.1% decline in the Nasdaq Composite on Monday as technology stocks came under renewed pressure.

Investors were also preparing for AMD’s earnings announcement after Tuesday’s market close and the US employment report scheduled for Friday.

Futures Volume Jumps 51% as Open Interest Falls

Crypto derivatives activity increased sharply, with futures trading volume climbing 51% over 24 hours to $168.1 billion. Total open interest moved in the opposite direction, falling 1.63% to $134.9 billion.

The combination of higher volume and declining open interest for a second consecutive day indicates that traders were primarily closing or adjusting existing positions rather than establishing significant new exposure.

The upcoming US midterm elections, together with expectations for early results and media projections on Wednesday, may be contributing to the elevated trading activity.

Liquidations surged 171% to $382.6 million as leveraged positions were forcibly closed. Sellers also gained a slight advantage in market activity, representing 51.12% of taker volume. Trading had been almost evenly split between buyers and sellers during the previous session.

Ether Derivatives Show More Position Closures

Ether futures open interest dropped 2.18%, while the token’s price declined 0.83%. The larger fall in open interest suggests that traders were reducing their exposure to ETH.

Bitcoin futures open interest declined 1.20% against a 1.23% price decrease, indicating that changes in positioning were relatively limited.

The cumulative volume delta (CVD), which tracks aggressive market buying against selling, also showed different trends. ETH maintained a positive reading, while Bitcoin’s CVD remained negative.

Funding rates for both cryptocurrencies stayed above zero and increased from the previous day. This means traders holding long positions continued to pay those taking short positions.

Zcash Suffers the Sharpest Decline

Zcash recorded the largest loss among the monitored cryptocurrencies, falling 7.57%. Its futures open interest decreased 6.13%, a smaller reduction than its price decline.

ZEC also registered the weakest CVD among major cryptocurrencies, indicating that market-order selling was substantially stronger than buying.

Funding rates remained positive but declined compared with the previous 24-hour period. Long traders continued paying short sellers, although the difference between the two sides narrowed.

Across major exchanges, funding remained positive for most cryptocurrencies. Cardano’s ADA, Sui’s SUI and NEAR recorded some of the highest readings across Binance, OKX, Bybit, Hyperliquid and Deribit.

Hedera’s HBAR and Chainlink’s LINK had the most negative readings, but only on individual platforms. No major cryptocurrency showed negative funding across every exchange examined.

The 24-hour open-interest-adjusted CVD data also showed selling pressure across most tokens. Tron (TRX) recorded the strongest positive reading, while Zcash had the weakest.

Bitcoin Options Traders Increase Short-Term Volatility Bets

Bitcoin options activity shifted slightly toward bullish contracts, with the November 7 $78,000 call becoming the most actively traded option over the past 24 hours. Its strike price was close to Bitcoin’s spot value, marking a change from the previous session when puts dominated activity.

The November 27 $75,000 put ranked second, followed by the November 27 $100,000 call. However, four of the six most actively traded contracts were still put options.

Short-term implied volatility increased ahead of the US elections. The measure, which reflects the price swings options traders expect, reached approximately 51% for the nearest Bitcoin expiry, compared with about 43.5% for the November 4 contract a day earlier.

Ether’s nearest-dated options recorded implied volatility of approximately 59%.

Short-term skew remained considerably higher than longer-dated readings for both assets. This suggests that investors were paying more to purchase put options for downside protection than comparable call options for upside exposure.

All Top ETH Options Contracts Are Puts

Ether options displayed a stronger preference for downside protection than Bitcoin contracts.

All six of the most actively traded ETH options during the latest 24-hour period were puts. The November 6 contract with a $1,900 strike led activity, placing it roughly 16% below Ether’s spot price.

The concentration of trading in put options indicates that traders continue to seek protection against further declines in ETH.

LIT Advances on Regulatory Plans While NEAR Slides

Lighter’s LIT token gained 2.3% after founder Vladimir Novakovski said the perpetual futures exchange plans to submit registration applications to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission this month.

The platform intends to seek recognition as both a trading venue and a clearing house. However, filing the applications would only initiate the regulatory review process and would not guarantee approval.

NEAR lost another 0.9%, extending its 24-hour decline to approximately 7% and placing it among the weakest performers in the CoinDesk 100.

The decline continued despite the NEAR House of Stake governance body’s decision on Monday to reduce the maximum annual token issuance rate from 2.5% to 1.6%.

Zcash recovered 1.2% to trade near $1,146 after losing approximately 8% from Monday morning. The earlier decline followed disagreements surrounding its community grants program. The network’s NU7 upgrade is expected to arrive this week.

DeFi Tokens Show Relative Strength Despite Security Concerns

Decentralized finance tokens performed better than much of the wider cryptocurrency market. Aave rose 1.5%, while Uniswap gained 0.8%.

Their gains came despite a series of security attacks affecting cryptocurrency platforms since Friday, including the reported $40 million incident involving Mercado Bitcoin.

Market sentiment indicators remained weak. CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index stayed unchanged at 46 out of 100, while its Fear and Greed Index declined to 34 from 36, indicating that investors remained firmly in the fear category.