Bitcoin has plummeted over 10% in a weekend selloff, triggering more than $5 billion in leveraged trading liquidations and creating one of the largest CME futures gaps on record. The drop drove aggregated open interest to a nine-month low as derivatives traders shifted to a defensive posture, paying high premiums for downside protection. Analysts note the selloff pushed Bitcoin below key psychological levels, including the average cost basis for U.S. spot ETFs, with market sentiment now heavily influenced by macroeconomic and geopolitical pressures.
Bitcoin’s sharp weekend decline saw it fall from over $84,000 to approximately $75,900. The move triggered more than $5.4 billion in total liquidations since Thursday, including a single-day wipeout of $2.56 billion on Sunday.
This selloff created an over 8% gap in CME Group futures, the fourth-largest since their 2017 launch. Jeff Ko, Chief Analyst at CoinEx Research, noted, “The CME gap formed from this move is one of the largest since the March 2020 COVID selloff.”
The liquidation cascade drove total futures open interest down to $24.17 billion, its lowest level in nine months according to CryptoQuant data. Options markets mirrored the defensive shift, with traders paying elevated premiums for put options to hedge against further downside.
The price drop pushed Bitcoin below the average purchase price for U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs as highlighted by Alex Thorn of Galaxy. It also brought it near MicroStrategy‘s average buy price of roughly $76,000 according to Bitcoin Treasuries data.
Analysts remain split on the immediate outlook for the market. Ko described the phase as a “healthy deleveraging” rather than a structural bear market, identifying $68,000 to $70,000 as a key support zone.
Andri Fauzan Adziima, research lead at Bitrue, suggested the CME gap could attract prices higher but noted current pressure may delay a fill. Adziima stated that traders have switched to defense mode, with futures positions shrinking and heavy put buying in options.
Lai Yuen, an investment analyst at Fisher8 Capital, pointed out that large discretionary buyers may be tapped out for now. Yuen said speculative capital has rotated into other asset classes like space and AI stocks.
