Caution builds in the bitcoin market even as prices stay well above summer lows — SkimNews
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- Bitcoin dropped more than 2% to around $82,800 in 24 hours, with the slide following President Donald Trump's refusal to rule out further strikes on Iran before the U.S. midterm elections.
- Bitcoin futures open interest fell to 652,000 BTC — one of its lowest levels this year and down from an early-year peak of 800,000 BTC per Coinglass data — while annualized perpetual funding rates flipped negative, averaging minus 0.3% across major exchanges.
- Short sellers are aggressively pursuing bearish positions and willing to pay longs to keep their bets open, indicating bearish sentiment even as bitcoin rallied 40% in the third quarter.
- Bitcoin remains more than $20,000 above its summer cycle low and is still the best-performing asset of Q3 despite the slide in leveraged demand.
- Gold dropped 3% to around $4,150 an ounce over the same 24-hour window, pushing the bitcoin-to-gold ratio to nearly 20 — on the verge of turning positive for the year.
- The U.S. dollar index climbed above 101 as 10-year Treasury yields pushed past 5.2% and 30-year yields exceeded 5.51%, with the TLT long-duration Treasury ETF falling to around $79, an all-time low.
Why it matters: The bearish positioning in bitcoin derivatives — alongside a stronger dollar (DXY above 101) and 30-year Treasury yields above 5.51% — shows capital rotating toward interest-bearing assets. Long-duration bond holders are taking real losses (TLT at all-time low near $79), and leveraged crypto exposure is being unwound despite bitcoin's 40% Q3 gain.
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