Bitcoin Leverage Falls 32%, Liquidity Thins in Q3 Reset
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- Talos reported that Bitcoin open interest fell to $33.5 billion, down 32% from its Q2 peak, while Ether open interest dropped 40% to $16.2 billion, reflecting a broad leveraged-money purge.
- Bitcoin's 2% order-book depth fell to between $35 and $40 million by late June from roughly $70 million in early May, indicating markedly thinner market liquidity.
- Spot exchange volume declined 28% quarter-over-quarter to $2.32 trillion, per Talos data, as trading activity cooled alongside the leverage reset.
- US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $696.3 million in net outflows on June 25 alone, with June totaling about $4.5 billion in outflows and pushing year-to-date outflows to $5.5 billion.
- Strategy purchased only roughly 3,600 BTC in June, a sharp pullback from ~25,000 BTC in May and more than 50,000 BTC in April, ending June with 847,363 Bitcoin at an average cost of $64,103 per coin.
- Bitcoin was trading at $58,656 after touching $57,742, its lowest price since September 17, 2024.
Why it matters: The leverage purge means forced-selling cascades are less likely in Q3, but with order-book depth roughly halved from May and $4.5 billion fleeing spot ETFs in June, even moderate buying pressure could now move prices more sharply. Strategy's dramatic slowdown — from 50,000+ BTC bought in April to just 3,600 in June — signals the market's largest corporate accumulator is pulling back at the worst possible time for liquidity.
