Bitcoin continues to move sideways within a narrow range as volatility falls to multi-year lows, while a sharp rise in global bond yields weighs on broader risk sentiment. Traders are also looking to the Federal Reserve’s July meeting minutes for clues about the future path of U.S. interest rates.

Bitcoin was trading near $64,000, down around 0.5% since midnight UTC. The cryptocurrency has held between $61,500 and $66,900 since July 8, with little sign of a decisive breakout.

Rising bond yields have become the dominant market driver. The U.S. 30-year Treasury yield briefly climbed to 5.333%, its highest level in nearly two decades. Japan’s 10-year government bond yield reached a 30-year high, while Germany’s 30-year Bund yield climbed to levels last seen in 2011. France’s equivalent yield also reached its highest level since 2008.

The rise in borrowing costs coincided with a pullback in U.S. stocks. The Nasdaq 100 dropped 1.3% Tuesday, marking its steepest daily decline since early August. The S&P 500 also fell for a third consecutive session. Futures for both indexes have stabilized since midnight.

The next major catalyst is the Federal Reserve’s July meeting minutes, due later Wednesday. The minutes could shed light on policymakers’ thinking after the Fed kept its benchmark rate between 3.5% and 3.75%. Three of the 12 voting members had supported a rate hike.

Derivatives Data Signals Limited Conviction

CoinGlass data shows a modest bullish tilt among short-term traders, with longs accounting for about 51% of taker activity across periods of up to four hours. The daily long-short ratio is slightly bearish, with shorts representing 50.21% of positions.

Bitcoin’s open interest has fallen to roughly $21.8 billion from around $23 billion on Aug. 11. The decline alongside stagnant prices suggests traders are reducing exposure rather than aggressively adding positions while waiting for a clearer catalyst.

Funding rates remain slightly positive across major exchanges. Bitcoin’s open-interest-weighted funding rate is about 0.0049%, while Ethereum’s stands at 0.0022%. The low readings suggest leverage remains relatively controlled and reduce the potential for a major funding-driven squeeze.

The largest liquidation over the past 24 hours was a $23.35 million BTC-USD position on Hyperliquid. Total liquidations reached approximately $190.24 million, with short positions responsible for about $113.27 million.

Ethereum accounted for the largest liquidation activity over the previous four hours at approximately $5.35 million. The concentration in short liquidations suggests forced covering rather than a major increase in long positions.

Bitcoin futures continue to trade at a moderate premium. The Aug. 28 contract carried an annualized basis of around 12%, while the Sept. 25 Deribit contract showed a basis of about 7.12%. The pricing points to cautious optimism rather than aggressive bullish positioning.

Short-dated implied volatility on Deribit stood at around 20.4% for the Aug. 20 expiry, with options pricing a potential move of approximately $656 in either direction. Activity was concentrated around the $64,000-$65,000 strikes, suggesting traders expect limited movement before the Fed minutes are released.

Altcoin Market Shows Mixed Performance

ENA gained 2.99% to $0.0852, emerging as one of the day’s stronger performers following a week of underperformance.

LINK climbed 1.82% to $9.70, retaining its recent gains after Standard Chartered issued a bullish forecast and continuing to outperform many mid-cap DeFi assets.

NEAR advanced 1.76% to $1.615, attracting fresh interest alongside several AI-related tokens following a difficult stretch in mid-August.

PUMP declined 3.23% to $0.002998, reversing most of Monday’s 7.8% rally as buying momentum weakened.

CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season indicator remained at 44 out of 100, unchanged after dropping to 37 on Aug. 7.