Crypto Markets Today: Bitcoin Tests Key Support as Bullish Optimism Fades

Bitcoin is trading at $111,000 on Tuesday as it clings on to the critical level $110,000 level of support.

The world's largest cryptocurrency has struggled to to recover from a weekend sell-off that saw it tumble from $121,000 to $110,000, wiping out $500 billion in terms of overal crypto market cap.

Altcoins have performed even worse of late; plasma XPL$0.4158 is down by 58% in a week while FET, OP and ETHFI all lost more than 35% of their value respectively.

Derivatives Positioning

• The BTC futures market appears to be stabilizing following its recent volatility. Open interest has settled around $25.5 billion, showing no major change from yesterday after the weekend's significant drop. The 3-month annualized basis is now trading in a lower range of 5-6%, a drop from its earlier rebound and indicating a slight cooling of bullish sentiment. A key divergence remains in funding rates, with Bybit's rate turning negative at -5%, while Hyperliquid's remains positive at 10%. This suggests a mixed and complex market sentiment, with strong but isolated long and short conviction across different platforms.
• The BTC options market is showing a significant bullish acceleration. The 24-hour Put/Call Volume is now roughly balanced at a 50-50 split, a shift from being call-dominated, while the 1-week 25 Delta Skew has spiked dramatically to 12.62%. This high positive skew indicates a substantial premium for call options over puts, showing that traders are aggressively positioning for upside price action and are willing to pay a premium for bullish exposure.
• Coinglass data shows $627 million in 24 hour liquidations, with a 70-30 split between longs and shorts. ETH ($185 million), BTC ($125 million) and Others ($69 million) were the leaders in terms of notional liquidations. Binance liquidation heatmap indicates $110,600 as a core liquidation level to monitor, in case of a price drop.

Token Talk

By Oliver Knight

• Plasma XPL$0.4163 fell another 13.5% on Tuesday, extending its losses to 52% since debuting in late September.
• The stablecoin-focused layer-1 blockchain faces skepticism over its tokenomics and large “ecosystem & growth” allocations.
• Circulating supply stands at 1.8 billion against a total of 10 billion, pointing to years of potential sell pressure as vested tokens unlock.
• Investors who bought after exchange listings are facing steep losses amid weak market sentiment.
• Analysts expect continued downward pressure once early investor tokens become fully liquid.