Bitcoin Slips Below $64K as Bearish Crypto Derivatives Signal More Downside

Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market are ending July under pressure, with Bitcoin (BTC) falling 1.3% to around $63,870 and Ethereum (ETH) dropping 1.4% to roughly $1,890 after failing to reclaim the $2,000 mark reached earlier this month.

The weakness contrasts with traditional financial markets, where South Korea’s Kospi has surged more than 15% and U.S. stock index futures, including the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500, are trading higher.

Growing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, combined with hawkish remarks from Federal Reserve officials, have weighed on investor sentiment and slowed crypto’s recovery. The CoinDesk 20 Index has declined 2.3% since the start of the week, although it remains up 8.7% for July, marking its strongest monthly gain in a year.

Crypto derivatives continue to reflect a cautious outlook. The taker long-short futures volume ratio remains skewed toward sellers, indicating persistent bearish positioning. XRP futures open interest has climbed to 2.27 billion tokens—the highest level since late June—even as XRP's price slipped from $1.13 to $1.07, a pattern often viewed as confirmation of a strengthening downtrend driven by short sellers.

Bitcoin futures open interest has remained largely unchanged at about 750,000 BTC throughout July, signaling that traders are reluctant to increase leveraged exposure. Similar trends are visible in Ethereum and Solana futures, with price action remaining range-bound.

Uniswap's UNI token continues to attract speculative interest, recording its third straight day of open interest growth after BlackRock expanded its tokenized Treasury fund to Uniswap. However, negative cumulative volume delta across major cryptocurrencies suggests aggressive market selling remains dominant.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin's 30-day implied volatility has dropped to 37%, its lowest level since May. Historically, rebounds in volatility have often coincided with renewed declines in Bitcoin prices. Following the expiration of roughly $10 billion in Bitcoin and Ethereum options on Deribit, the $60,000 Bitcoin put option has emerged as the most popular bearish position.

Among altcoins, UNI gained 9.3%, Cardano (ADA) rose 4.1% over the past 24 hours, and Ethena (ENA) extended its recovery. In contrast, Lighter (LIT) and Zcash (ZEC) continued to lose ground as selling pressure persisted across parts of the altcoin market.