On Monday, Bitcoin pulled back to USD 83,000 as surging crude oil prices sparked a broad selloff across both cryptocurrency and traditional markets. The leading cryptocurrency retreated 1.7% since midnight UTC and 2.1% over a 24-hour period. While alternative cryptocurrencies faced steeper drops, futures metrics indicated that traders were scaling back their leverage amid mounting market uncertainty.
The CoinDesk 100 index dropped 2.6% to settle at 1,874.56, with 91 out of its 100 components trading in the red. Concurrently, total crypto trading volume surged 70% to reach USD 172 billion across a 24-hour span.
Conversely, open interest moved downward. Market-wide futures open interest contracted 3% to USD 150 billion, pointing to position closures even as trading activity picked up pace.
Oil Rally Pressures Bitcoin and Global Risk Assets
This latest wave of market stress followed another advance in crude oil values. Brent crude climbed back above USD 100, trading at USD 100.83 after registering a 3.2% gain during the session.
The price action was triggered after President Donald Trump turned down Iran’s newest conditions for opening the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran’s demands involved gaining access to frozen assets, receiving relief from oil sanctions, and halting the US naval blockade on Iranian ports.
Mainstream financial markets also saw downward pressure. Gold retreated 3.3% to USD 4,144, and silver slumped 5.1% to USD 61.00. S&P 500 futures fell 0.44%, while NASDAQ 100 futures dropped 0.95%. Meanwhile, the US dollar index climbed 0.06% to 101.09. These movements underscored a widespread selloff affecting multiple asset categories rather than a crypto-specific downturn.
Altcoins suffered more severe pullbacks. QNT plummeted 16% since midnight, following a 39% surge over 24 hours during Friday’s trading. GRT fell 12%, and ONDO similarly dropped 12%. The DeFi Select Index gave up 6.4% during the session and 7.3% over 24 hours, while the CoinDesk Computing Index dropped 3.2% and lost 5.0% across the same timeframe.
Bitcoin Futures Show Traders Reducing Leverage
Bitcoin futures open interest dropped to 650,000 BTC, touching its lowest mark since March. Funding rates additionally flipped negative across major exchanges, signaling that active leveraged positions leaned toward bearish exposure.
Data through September 22 showed that leveraged funds expanded their net Bitcoin futures short exposure by 1,599 contracts, lifting their cumulative net short position to 7,953 contracts. Asset managers took the opposite stance, adding 411 contracts to elevate their net long position to 3,171 contracts.
Overall Bitcoin futures open interest advanced by 1,542 contracts to 22,315 according to that positioning report. These statistics reflect futures metrics and do not account for spot holdings or wider portfolio allocations.
Later derivatives data pointed to a reduction in overall market leverage. The 24-hour taker long-short ratio registered at 46.9% versus 53.1% as of 09:50 UTC, granting aggressive sellers a slight edge.
Ether mirrored this contraction in leveraged exposure. ETH futures open interest dropped to 12.85 million ETH, down from 13.95 million on July 1 and exceeding 15.65 million in late May.
Even with falling open interest, ETH maintained a 68% gain since July 1. These figures demonstrate that the price rally took place alongside decreasing futures leverage. Solana futures exhibited a comparable trend.
Also Read: Bitcoin vs Federal Reserve: How Monetary Policy Shapes BTC
XRP and HBAR Break from the Broader Futures Trend
XRP futures open interest followed a different path, hitting a four-week peak of 2.46 billion XRP early in the session before settling back to 2.37 billion. Whale positioning also diverged among prominent tokens. Binance whales maintained a bullish stance on Bitcoin, though their sentiment had cooled compared to Friday’s heavy bullishness.
Those same traders shifted bearish on Ether while sustaining their bullish outlook on Solana. XRP positioning slipped back into negative territory, though it displayed less bearish exposure than its Friday reading. HBAR posted an even more pronounced spike in derivatives activity, with open interest leaping to an all-time high of 2.30 billion HBAR alongside a 48% spot price increase over 24 hours.
Nonetheless, HBAR’s 24-hour open-interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta remained negative. Annualized funding also hovered just above zero, showing that aggressive buyers were not dictating market momentum.
Options trading pointed to demand on both sides of the market. On Deribit, the USD 84,000 Bitcoin put option expiring September 30 emerged as the most heavily traded Bitcoin options contract over 24 hours. Concurrently, the USD 2,850 Ether call option expiring October 20 drove ETH options volume. Puts serve as a hedge against downside risk, whereas calls offer exposure to potential upward movement.
Bitcoin implied volatility ticked upward as Volmex’s BVIV climbed to 37.4%, recovering from sub-36% levels the previous week. Ether’s EVIV mirrored this behavior, while Wall Street’s VIX rose to 16 on Friday from under 14.
In separate data from Pluang, only nine out of 50 leading cryptocurrencies posted gains while 40 declined. Harmony led the winners with a 30.54% jump to Rp50, followed by GRT up 17.15% to Rp578 and BAL climbing 11.14% to Rp16,297.
A Brief Roundup
Bitcoin’s drop to USD 83,000 coincided with oil climbing past USD 100 as selling pressure swept across both digital assets and traditional markets. Futures metrics highlighted lower leverage, negative funding rates, and bearish taker activity, while XRP and HBAR saw stronger open interest. Options flows similarly revealed appetite for both downside protection and targeted upside participation.
