Bitcoin has surrendered its early Thursday rebound profits, currently changing hands at $83,344—marking a 1.23% decline since midnight UTC—while a widespread bond market selloff driving the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield to its highest point since 2007 continues to pressure digital assets for a second consecutive session.
This downward movement has pulled down the entire digital asset space; ether has declined by 1.55%, XRP dropped 2.87%, and solana (SOL) is priced at $113.14 following a 1.61% loss. Although alternative tokens initiated a modest recovery during the European morning hours, they are currently experiencing the heaviest losses, with NEAR and HYPE retreating by 3.32% and 3.94%, respectively.
The dollar index (DXY) climbed 0.13% to 101.24—reaching its loftiest mark since July—while gold dropped 0.71% to $4,257 alongside sliding U.S. equity futures. Standard & Poor’s 500 futures fell 0.61%, and the Nasdaq 100 index plunged past 1%.
Derivatives positioning
- Taker flow stays bearish for a second day: Short positions accounted for over 52% of total 24-hour taker volume, which expanded by 10% to hit $250 billion despite overall open interest shrinking nearly 6% down to $149 billion. Increasing volume accompanied by declining open interest and short-heavy order flow suggests that market participants are unwinding pre-existing positions instead of establishing aggressive new short bets.
- BTC OI falls faster than price: Bitcoin futures open interest slipped 6% contrasted with a 3% valuation reduction over a 24-hour span. Because this open interest is measured in notional terms, a decrease outpacing the price drop demonstrates that actual contracts are being liquidated rather than merely seeing their dollar value shrink due to flat holdings, matching an authentic long position unwinding pattern rather than fresh short selling.
- Binance whales aren’t buying the bearish story: In contrast to weak metrics elsewhere, the whale long/short account ratio on leading exchange Binance climbed back above parity to 1.30, while the whale position ratio remained subdued below 2 for two days running. Major accounts appear to be standing aside or betting against the wider market selloff, creating a divergence that warrants careful observation rather than dismissal.
- XRP mirrors BTC; ETH and SOL don’t: XRP’s notional open interest is contracting faster than its valuation, mimicking bitcoin and signaling genuine position liquidations. Conversely, the open interest contractions for ETH and SOL line up closely with their spot price drops, reflecting existing holdings simply losing fiat value as prices decrease rather than active market deleveraging.
- CVD confirms the sell pressure, alts wear it worst: The 24-hour open interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta remains negative across major assets like BTC and ETH, indicating that aggressive selling has outstripped heavy buying activity. XRP, SUI, and AVAX exhibit the most deeply negative metrics, highlighting them as the focal points of concentrated selling pressure.
- Litecoin is the exception, and the data backs a real move: LTC advanced nearly 8% over 24 hours, accompanied by an increase in futures open interest—tracked directly in token units—reaching 8.96 million, its highest point since January 18 while extending an upward trend beginning September 19. A climbing spot price alongside growing coin-denominated open interest provides a more definitive signal than notional measurements, pointing to genuine new long accumulation rather than short covering.
- Implied vol stays calm despite the selloff: Thirty-day implied volatility metrics for both BTC and ETH remain anchored within recent trading boundaries, with near-term implied volatility continuing to trade cheaply relative to realized volatility for both assets. Options traders are noticeably withholding panic pricing even as spot valuations soften.
- Options skew turns defensive: Bitcoin’s one-week skew shifted positive, signaling revived market demand for downside insurance. Ethereum displays a nearly identical shift. Both align closely with prevailing market weakness instead of contradicting it.
- Big expiry looms Friday: Options contracts exceeding $17 billion in value for both BTC and ETH are set to expire on Deribit this Friday, with a majority of current positions sitting in the money. The core uncertainty is whether participants will roll those positions forward into later expiration dates or permit them to settle, either of which could introduce heightened volatility ahead of the weekend.
Token talk
- Litecoin successfully preserved its gains through the broader market downturn, rising 8.1% from midnight UTC and 6.2% across the rolling 24-hour period. This price action unfolds as traders position portfolios ahead of the upcoming July block reward halving, with historical market bottoms customarily arriving six to twelve months prior.
- Ethereum classic (ETC) gained 7.6% intraday to reach $9.42, while lending protocol token morpho climbed 4.1% to touch $2.67.
- Market damage remains concentrated among tokens that experienced the strongest rallies earlier in the week, with AI inference token venice dropping 5.2% since midnight and 9.6% over 24 hours to $28.71, perpetual exchange token lighter shedding 4.2% and 2.1% down to $5.09, and pump.fun falling 4.1% on the day and 11% on the rolling window.
- Hyperliquid retreated 3.9% to $90.39 and NEAR pulled back 3.1% to $4.2, leaving the AI-focused token down 8.7% across the past 24 hours despite ranking among the top-performing assets over the preceding week.
- XRP and bitcoin cash stood out as the weakest major coins, each retreating 2.7% since midnight to settle at $1.46 and $328.56, respectively. XRP dropped 8.3% over a 24-hour span while bitcoin cash lost 6.8%, giving back the gains secured following Wednesday’s CME futures announcement.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/09/24/bitcoin-steadies-near-usd84-000-after-bond-yields-hit-a-2007-high.
