Nov 3, 2026, 6:28 a.m. EST
Summary
- Fresh security breaches have impacted the digital asset space following the Binance incident, including an estimated $40 million theft from Brazil’s Mercado Bitcoin platform, as reported by blockchain security firm Hypernative.
- Nasdaq futures advanced 0.3% while Brent crude climbed 1.3% following the midnight UTC mark, coinciding with American citizens participating in the midterm elections and AMD preparing its earnings report after market closure.
- The LIT token from Lighter increased by 2.3% as the perpetual derivatives trading platform gets ready to submit registration documents to the CFTC during the current month.
Bitcoin BTC ($76,979.45) ticked up 0.2% reaching approximately $76,900, after previously dropping to near $76,300 during the European morning hours. Alternative cryptocurrencies showed mixed movement, with ether ETH ($2,263.37) increasing by 0.6% and the decentralized finance index (DFX) advancing 0.5%, whereas the CoinDesk Memecoin Index dropped by 0.8%.
U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds registered $399 million in net redemptions on Monday, marking their second consecutive session of outflows according to Farside Investors, with BlackRock’s IBIT product accounting for $405 million of the exits, representing its largest single-day withdrawal amount since June.
Clients of Binance have withdrawn a net total of $4.72 billion ever since the trading platform resumed operations on Sunday, climbing from the $364 billion recorded that day, while additional security breaches targeted the industry, notably Brazil’s Mercado Bitcoin losing $40 million from its hot storage.
Nasdaq futures increased by 0.3% and Brent crude advanced 1.3% to settle near $106 since midnight UTC, following a 1.1% decline in the Nasdaq Composite on Monday due to a continued technology stock selloff. Citizens across the United States are voting today in the midterm elections, with AMD scheduled to release earnings after the market closes and the official employment report expected on Friday.
Derivatives positioning
- Churn, not positioning: Trading volume across crypto futures expanded by 51% over a 24-hour window to reach $168.1 billion, while open interest contracted 1.63% down to $134.9 billion. Growing turnover alongside flat to declining open interest for a second straight day points to active trading rather than new directional stakes. This behavior is understandable given the U.S. midterm elections happening today, with initial tallies and media announcements expected tomorrow. Liquidations, which involve the forced termination of leveraged accounts, surged 171% to hit $382.6 million. Market execution favored selling pressure, with taker volume showing 51.12% on the ask side, compared to a nearly balanced distribution yesterday.
- ETH sees exits: Open interest dedicated to ether ETH ($2,263.37) futures decreased by 2.18% alongside a 0.83% price drop, indicating that participants liquidated holdings and capital exited the asset. Bitcoin open interest shrank 1.20% matching a 1.23% decline in price, meaning capital remained neutral overall. The cumulative volume delta for ETH, which measures net market-order buying against selling, remains positive, whereas bitcoin displays a negative figure. Funding rates stay positive for both assets and exceed yesterday’s levels, implying that long positions are paying higher fees to shorts.
- ZEC leads losses: Zcash (ZEC) suffered a 7.57% decrease, marking the steepest decline among listed digital coins. Futures open interest dropped 6.13%, tracking slightly below the asset’s price depreciation. Its cumulative volume delta registers as the most negative among primary tokens, indicating that market-order liquidations surpassed accumulation. Funding remains positive though it sits lower than 24-hour readings, meaning long holders continue compensating short traders, albeit at a reduced rate.
- Funding stays positive: The majority of tokens maintain positive funding rates, signaling that longs compensate shorts. Cardano (ADA), Sui (SUI), and NEAR occupy the upper tier across major centralized and decentralized exchanges like Binance, OKX, Bybit, Hyperliquid, and Deribit. Hedera (HBAR) and Chainlink (LINK) show the lowest readings, though exclusively on individual platforms, meaning no single token registers negative funding everywhere.
- Market selling leads: Based on the 24-hour open interest-normalized cumulative volume delta chart, most coins register negative metrics, demonstrating that market-order dispositions exceeded acquisitions. Tron (TRX) displays the highest positive reading while ZEC represents the most negative.
- BTC options turn mixed: The most actively traded bitcoin option contract over the past 24 hours was the November 7 expiry call set at the $78,000 strike price, positioning near current spot values and reversing yesterday’s trend where puts dominated. The November 27 put contract at $75,000 followed closely behind, ahead of a November 27 call at $100,000. Four out of the six top-traded options remained put contracts.
- Election premium builds: Implied volatility, representing the magnitude of price fluctuations anticipated by options speculators, for near-term bitcoin contracts climbed to roughly 51%, up from approximately 43.5% noted for the November 4 expiration yesterday. The nearest-dated ether derivatives mirrored this trend at roughly 59%. Short-duration skew, denoting the extra cost puts demand relative to calls, holds significantly above longer-term metrics for both coins, indicating that downside protection commands higher premiums in the immediate term.
- ETH puts dominate: All six of the most heavily traded ether option contracts over the past 24 hours were put options, spearheaded by the November 6 contract at the $1,900 strike, situated roughly 16% under the spot valuation.
Token talk
- Lighter (LIT), the native asset for the perpetual swaps platform, advanced 2.3% as the protocol prepares to submit applications this month to the CFTC seeking authorization as both a trading platform and a clearing house, according to founder Vladimir Novakovski, although filing simply initiates an administrative review.
- Near NEAR ($3.8684) dropped an additional 0.9%, compounding a 7% loss across 24 hours that positioned it among the worst performers within the CoinDesk 100, notwithstanding the decision by its House of Stake governance committee on Monday to reduce the maximum yearly token creation rate from 2.5% down to 1.6%.
- Zcash (ZEC) appreciated 1.2% to trade near $1,146, following an approximate 8% pullback from Monday morning levels driven by disagreements concerning its community grant framework, ahead of the anticipated NU7 network upgrade scheduled for this week.
- Decentralized finance exhibited greater resilience than the broader market, with aave AAVE ($127.55) gaining 1.5% and uniswap (UNI) rising 0.8%, despite a wave of security incidents impacting the crypto space since Friday.
- CoinMarketCap’s altcoin season barometer remains unchanged at 46 out of 100, while the platform’s fear and greed metric receded to 34 out of 100, entering the “fear” territory from the previous reading of 36.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/11/03/bitcoin-steadies-after-dip-to-usd76-300-as-etf-outflows-and-midterm-elections-weigh-on-crypto.
