Selling pressure in the cryptocurrency market escalated significantly over the weekend, driving Bitcoin below the key $75,000 mark and forcing the asset to log its lowest weekly closing price since August. The continuous price slump has effectively pushed recent buyers and short-term holders into a net unrealized loss position. Data from on-chain analytics firm Glassnode indicates that reduced demand in the spot market, coupled with sustained leverage in derivatives, has eroded unrealized profits across the board.
Circulating Supply Profits Shrink as Short-Term Holders Face Loss Realization
According to Glassnode’s latest market report, the percentage of Bitcoin’s total circulating supply sitting in profit declined by 3.8% over the past seven days, falling to 60.6%. Concurrently, the Net Unrealized Profit/Loss (NUPL) metric contracted sharply from 3.4% down to 1.1%, capturing the swift drop in unrealized gains as market prices headed lower.
By Sunday, short-term holders had collectively shifted into an unrealized loss territory as prices hovered near their break-even thresholds. Furthermore, the realized profit-to-loss ratio slipped to -0.63 from -0.21, demonstrating that investors were realizing substantially higher losses than profits during trades. Glassnode noted that loss realization is currently dominating market activity, reflecting a wave of fear-driven selling, although the metric has not yet hit its historical lower extreme band.
Derivatives Exposure: Elevated Open Interest and Liquidations
The Bitcoin derivatives sector continues to display marks of stress, even as the recent correction failed to eliminate overall leveraged exposure. Futures open interest declined 1.1% over the past week, falling from $37.4 billion to $37 billion. Analysts attributed this minor contraction to position liquidations and forced closures during Thursday’s drop alongside another round of long liquidations on Sunday.
Despite the broader price weakness, long-side funding payments remained elevated above their historical upper boundary, though they dropped 7.1% from $3.1 million to $2.9 million. Glassnode observed that bullish traders are still paying a notable premium to maintain perpetual futures long positions, implying that leveraged positioning remains heavily weighted toward the upside.
In the options market, participants are proceeding with increased caution. While options contracts still price in a higher level of volatility than what current spot moves deliver, the gap between implied volatility and realized volatility has narrowed considerably, leading to lower option buyer premiums compared to the previous week.
Spot Market Volume Delta and ETF Outflows
A stark lack of spot demand heavily contributed to Bitcoin’s drop to $75,000. Spot cumulative volume delta (CVD) dropped sharply to -$91.8 million, down from $6.6 million recorded a week prior. However, spot trading volume rose 13.3% to $6.4 billion during the week, highlighting heightened transaction activity during volatile price swings.
Institutional sentiment in the United States also chilled, with US spot Bitcoin ETFs recording net outflows on four out of five trading days. This marked the largest weekly net outflow total for spot ETFs since early July. Despite these headwinds, Glassnode pointed out that price momentum managed a subtle recovery from below its historical lower band to finish the week slightly higher, even after reaching a local low. The report concluded that while momentum remains fragile, it is no longer accelerating the downside, suggesting that the initial selling velocity has lost momentum. At the time of writing, BTC was trading around $74,700, down 0.1% over the previous 24 hours.
Altcoin Weakness: NEAR, XRP, and XLM Under Downward Pressure
The broader crypto landscape mirrors Bitcoin's struggles. NEAR Protocol hovered above $3.50 on Tuesday following a modest bounce from its $3.40 support level. However, weak institutional appetite, diminishing retail volume, negative Coinbase premiums, and capital outflows from NEAR futures continue to limit upside potential for the AI token.
Simultaneously, Ripple (XRP) and Stellar (XLM) faced sustained bearish pressure, trading below $1.093 and near $0.146 respectively. Data from CryptoQuant highlights weak on-chain activity and sluggish derivative metrics, suggesting both altcoins remain vulnerable to deeper downside corrections in the short term.
