Bitcoin has regained ground following last week’s decline triggered by a brief political controversy, recovering to around $110,000. Despite the rebound, many traders remain hesitant, showing caution even as the asset trades within 2% of its all-time high.
Analysts point to a persistent atmosphere of “disbelief” reflected in key market indicators, with participants opting to remain risk-averse ahead of macroeconomic data releases.
K33’s Head of Research, Vetle Lunde, noted that Binance’s BTC/USDT perpetual contracts registered negative daily funding rates on Friday and Sunday, while the weekly funding average was just 1.3% annualized, a level usually seen near local bottoms over the last two and a half years.
In such conditions, traders are generally paying to remain short, reflecting a prevailing bearish bias despite the price recovery. Lunde emphasized that such bearish sentiment could act as fuel for a future breakout.
In addition, data from the Volatility Shares 2x leveraged long Bitcoin ETF (BITX) adds to the cautious narrative. The fund holds just 52,435 BTC in exposure, significantly lower than its peak of 76,755 BTC in December.
According to K33, since April 8, ETHU has added over 305,000 ETH in exposure, exceeding the increase in CME ETH open interest during the same period.
ETHU now represents 18.3% of the ETH held by all US spot ETFs and about two-thirds of CME’s ETH open interest. This contrasts with BITX, which makes up only 4.3% of US spot Bitcoin ETF holdings.
Featured image created with DALL-E, Chart from TradingView
