TL;DR
- Bitcoin fell below $63,000 to its weakest level since August 3 as spot ETFs posted $192 million in two-day net outflows.
- Binance open interest and BTC price fell together, with correlation at 0.25, signaling leveraged longs were being stopped out or liquidated.
- Total crypto liquidations reached about $236 million, while Bitcoin volatility stayed subdued and bullish options remained active despite Ki Young Ju’s warning that bull-market conditions have not aligned.
Bitcoin slipped below $63,000 on Friday, returning to its weakest level since August 3 as fading momentum and fresh ETF outflows kept pressure on the market. Spot Bitcoin funds recorded $192 million in net redemptions across two consecutive sessions, their first back-to-back drawdown since late July. The uneasy part is that cooler U.S. inflation data lifted equities but failed to revive crypto demand. Producer prices cooled to 4.7%, helping the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 rally, yet BTC still erased last week’s gains as traders searched for a stronger bullish catalyst for the market ahead.
Binance Longs Face Growing Pressure as Bitcoin Weakens
The pressure is becoming more visible in derivatives. Binance Bitcoin open interest had climbed to $8.15 billion on Wednesday as futures activity gained influence while spot traders stayed relatively quiet. As BTC weakened, however, price and open interest began falling together, with their correlation reaching 0.25 on Thursday. That combination is being read as evidence that leveraged longs are finally being forced out. CryptoQuant analysis said the anticipated cleanout had started, with traders giving up, hitting stop-losses or facing liquidation after building long exposure around the low-$60,000 region during the recent consolidation in recent sessions.
Broader market data adds nuance rather than panic. Across major venues, Bitcoin open interest rose more than 3% to roughly 765,000 BTC even as cumulative volume delta turned negative, while annualized funding remained mildly positive. Total crypto liquidations reached about $236 million over 24 hours. The contradiction is that leverage remains substantial even while part of the bullish positioning is being flushed from Binance. Bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility also slipped below 36%, reversing an earlier spike toward 39%, suggesting options markets are not yet pricing the type of disorderly move that spot weakness might imply.
The next test is whether Bitcoin can avoid setting fresh August lows as leveraged positioning deteriorates. Options activity remains mixed, with calls at $67,000, $69,000 and $70,000 among the most-traded Bitcoin contracts, showing upside bets have not disappeared. Still, CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju said conditions for a renewed bull market have not yet aligned. Bitcoin is therefore entering a fragile zone where optimistic options bets coexist with ETF withdrawals and a long-position squeeze. If selling persists, the market may have to clear more leverage before traders can argue that the decline has exhausted itself.
