Bitcoin's recovery stalled Tuesday even as Strategy (MSTR) resumed buying after its end-May sale. The largest publicly listed bitcoin holder disclosed Monday it acquired 1,550 BTC for $101 million, raising its total holdings to 845,256 coins — roughly 48 times the 32 BTC it sold in late May. Yet the purchase failed to stir the token's price. Bitcoin was trading near $62,600, largely unchanged from Monday, after a 4% bounce on Sunday briefly pushed it above $64,000 on exchanges like Coinbase.
Broader Market Feels the Chill
The lack of BTC momentum dragged down the wider market. The CoinDesk DeFi Select Index dropped 1.8% in 24 hours, while the CoinDesk 80 Index fell 1.3%. Daniel Reis-Faria, CEO of ZeroStack, said in an email that bitcoin's recent rebound shows demand still exists on pullbacks, but investors are not committing capital with the same conviction as earlier this year. "While a lot of attention has been placed on Strategy's buying activity, the bigger factor remains the broader economic environment," he noted, pointing to inflation and interest rate expectations ahead of next week's FOMC meeting that influence risk appetite across all asset classes, including crypto.
Derivatives: Bears Lead, but ZEC Flashes a Squeeze
Total crypto futures volume slipped 1.3% to $190.7 billion in 24 hours, while open interest held flat around $103 billion. Liquidations crashed 48% to $301 million, suggesting aggressive leverage has been flushed. The 24-hour cumulative volume delta (CVD) for major coins, including bitcoin and ether, stayed negative, indicating bears still control price action. However, ZEC stood out: open interest climbed roughly 5% to 2.47 million tokens, the highest since May 26, as the token surged to $472 from sub-$300 lows last week. ZEC's CVD turned positive (buyers using market orders), but annualized perpetual funding rates remain deeply negative at about -45%, meaning shorts still dominate positioning yet face rising carry costs. A continued rally could trigger a short squeeze. WLD open interest remains just shy of last week's record 963.6 million tokens, signaling elevated volatility risk.
Implied Volatility and Options Signal Caution
Both bitcoin and ether's 30-day implied volatility indexes (BVIV and EVIV) continued retreating from Friday's highs, indicating panic is ebbing. But front-week implied volatility spiked sharply, reflecting heightened expectations around Wednesday's U.S. CPI release. On Deribit, the $60,000 put remains a focal point and is among the most actively traded strikes across multiple expiries. The one-week risk reversal is heavily skewed toward puts, with BTC puts trading at an 8 vol point premium to calls — a persistent signal that fears of a deeper selloff have not faded.