Bitcoin stalls as open interest decline raises questions about rally's staying power

Markets Bitcoin stalls as open interest decline raises questions about rally's staying power BTC retreated from a two-week high of $64,500 as falling open interest and weak spot demand cast doubt on the sustainability of July's 8.4% advance. By Oliver Knight , Omkar Godbole | Edited by Sheldon Reback Jul 7, 2026, 10:44 a.m. 3 min read Make preferred on Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Make preferred on Bitcoin price (CoinDesk Data) Summary Show Bitcoin retreated from a two-week high of $64,500 as falling open interest, weak ETF flows and a negative Coinbase premium raise doubts about whether the advance has legs. Shorts were again targeted, with over $500 million in leveraged positions wiped out in 24 hours, confirming that July's gains are largely driven by the short-squeeze setup identified in late June rather than fresh bullish conviction. The altcoin market continues to fragment, with ETHFI and LIT up more than 30% over the past week while FET, KASPA and WLD posted losses, a dynamic that CoinMarketCap's Altcoin Season indicator only partially captures. Bitcoin BTC $ 63,238.65 stalled on Tuesday, falling for the first time this month and breaking the longest stretch of gains since March. It had rallied to $64,500, its highest point in more than two weeks, on Monday. Ether (ETH) tracked the larger cryptocurrency, dropping to $1,770 after hitting a high of $1,830 on Monday. The July recovery can be attributed to a short-squeeze setup that was identified in late June, which saw heavy short interest despite bitcoin trading at its lowest point since 2024. Bitcoin and other crypto tokens capitalized on a skew in short positions, recovering from oversold territory and advancing every day since the start of the month. The total crypto market has grown by 8.4% since July 1, and is now worth $2.16 trillion. U.S. equities fell in pre-market trading on Tuesday, with Nasdaq 100 index futures losing 0.9% since midnight UTC as the decline from June's record high continues. Derivatives positioning Over $500 million in leveraged crypto futures bets have been liquidated by exchanges in 24 hours, with shorts, or bearish positions, accounting for most of the tally for a sixth straight day. Despite the recent price strength, BTC's futures open interest (OI) has slipped to 740K BTC, down from the July 3 high of 776K BTC. This shows that derivative traders are not participating in the price rise alongside a continued weakness in spot demand, as evidenced from ETF flows and the Coinbase premium. This raises questions about the sustainability of the gains. The same is true for ether (ETH), which recently outperformed BTC. OI in SOL has pulled back to 68 million tokens from the peak of over 76 million on June 24. The message is the same. The 10% rise in the token has so far failed to galvanize demand for leveraged plays. Canton Network's CC token has declined by over 4% in 24 hours accompanied by a 3% uptick in the futures OI to 245.59 million tokens. This, coupled with negative funding rates and 24-hour OI-adjusted cumulative volume delta, points to a growing bearish bias. Most tokens have a negative OI-adjusted CVD, a sign of bears being more aggressive by shorting at market orders rather than passive limit order plays. It suggests potential for losses ahead. Bitcoin's 30-day implied volatility index, BVIV, has jumped to 40%, snapping a six-day losing streak. Still, the gauge remains well below January highs near 60% in a positive sign for crypto bulls. The same is true for ether's index, EVIV. On Deribit, options continue to showcase lingering downside concerns in both bitcoin and ether. Options volume in BTC paints a mixed picture with both calls and puts making it to the list of top traded bets in the past 24 hours. On decentralized exchange Derive, a large long call condor strategy on HYPE crossed the tape, indicating expectations for a range play between $75 and $80 till July 24. Token talk The altcoin market continues to show internal contradictions. Tokens like FET, KASPA and WLD have all posted losses despite the broader marketwide recovery this week, while ETHFI and LIT have outperformed, adding more than 30% over the past seven days. WLFI $ 0.06036 was one of the top-performing tokens on Tuesday, rising 4.8. It's worth noting that the token, linked to the family of President Donald Trump, is down by more than 89% since it was created last August. The decoupling of some altcoins demonstrates a maturing of the sector, with token performance based on underlying sentiment and onchain activity. Historically, the entire altcoin market moved in unison. CoinMarketCap's Altcoin Season indicator is at 46/100, below Friday's high and higher than in May, when it was consistently around 30/100. Crypto Markets Today Related Assets Bitcoin $ 63,238.65 0.78 % World Liberty Financial $ 0.060 4.32 % Latest Crypto News 1 Binance taps into Bitcoin holders’ hunger for yield with new covered call yield play 2 hours ago 2 Bitcoin's recent macro relief faces a challenge from Japanese interest rates 2 hours ago 3 Live markets: Bitcoin and ether ETFs drew inflows on Monday 3 hours ago 4 BONK faces $20 million treasury drain after attacker spends $4 million to pass malicious proposal 5 hours ago 5 XRP stalls near $1.14 as breakout attempt struggles for volume 5 hours ago 6 Bitcoin drops after a run at $64,000, shrugging off Strategy's $213 million BTC sale 6 hours ago 7 Bitcoin's U.S. reserve still a work-in-progress as federal agencies hash it out 13 hours ago 8 Circle’s USDC is leaving Tether behind in the stablecoin volume race, new data from Visa shows 18 hours ago 9 Strategy selling hundreds of millions worth of bitcoin raises question about its capital-allocation playbook 18 hours ago 10 Ethereum developers embrace Vitalik Buterin's long-term vision but urge quicker execution 19 hours ago Latest Research Building the Zcash Machine: Tachyon and Quantum Readiness Building the Zcash Machine: Tachyon and Quantum Readiness Zcash’s Tachyon upgrade aims to scale shielded payments, improve quantum readiness, and test whether its funding, security, and governance can hold. By CoinDesk Research Jun 30, 2026 Commissioned by GenZcash Zcash’s Tachyon upgrade aims to scale shielded payments, improve quantum readiness, and test whether its funding, security, and governance can hold. Why it matters : Zcash’s Tachyon upgrade aims to scale shielded payments, improve quantum readiness, and test whether its funding, security, and governance can hold. View Full Report More From Markets Binance taps into Bitcoin holders’ hunger for yield with new covered call yield play Bitcoin's recent macro relief faces a challenge from Japanese interest rates BONK faces $20 million treasury drain after attacker spends $4 million to pass malicious proposal More From Bitcoin Binance taps into Bitcoin holders’ hunger for yield with new covered call yield play Bitcoin's recent macro relief faces a challenge from Japanese interest rates Live markets: Bitcoin and ether ETFs drew inflows on Monday