Из жизни альткоинов
Crypto’s High-Stakes Corner Booms As Derivatives Trading Soars To $86 Trillion
According to a report by liquidation tracker CoinGlass, cryptocurrency derivatives trading hit roughly $85.7 trillion in 2025, an average of about $264 billion a day. That surge put derivatives back at the center of crypto activity and left a clear imprint on markets worldwide.
Market Concentration And Exchange ShareBinance handled roughly $25 trillion of that volume, or about 29% of global derivatives trading. OKX, Bybit and Bitget each posted between $8 trillion and $10 trillion, and the four of them together controlled about 62% of the market.
Based on reports, that level of concentration means a handful of platforms still drive most of the action, and any major hiccup at one of them can ripple through other venues fast.
Crypto: Institutional Pathways ExpandedTrading moved beyond retail bets. Spot ETFs listed in the US, options desks and compliant futures helped mainstream venues such as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange gain ground. The CME had already overtaken Binance in Bitcoin futures open interest in 2024, and it consolidated that position through 2025.
More institutions started using derivatives for hedging and basis trades rather than pure speculation. That change pushed pricing patterns to look more like traditional markets, even as new risks built up under the surface.
Open Interest And Market SwingsOpen interest began the year near a low of about $87 billion after a broad round of deleveraging in the first quarter. It then climbed through the middle of the year and reached a record $236 billion on October 7.
An abrupt reset in early Q4 wiped out more than $70 billion in positions — roughly one-third of the open interest at the time. Even after that shock, year-end open interest stood at $145 billion, a 17% rise from where the year began.
Bitcoin Price ActionMeanwhile, Bitcoin’s price has yet to breach the $90k level, trading at $89,950 at the time of writing. US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs, on the other hand, recorded net outflows, weakening what some had called the institutional bid. A record-sized Bitcoin options expiry landed on Friday, Dec 26, and several analysts argued it kept price pinned in a tighter band — at least for a while.
Sentiment gauges stayed on the gloomy side, with many investors showing caution despite broader product access and more regulated routes to trade.
Forced LiquidationsTotal forced liquidations across the year were estimated at about $150 billion. A big portion of the pain came on Oct. 10 and Oct. 11, when more than $19 billion was erased in just two days.
The data for 2025 shows a market that has grown in size and in institutional involvement, while also carrying structural tensions. Trading volumes and product variety have increased, but so have the paths that can transmit shocks.
Featured image from FXLeaders, chart from TradingView
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CZ Responds After Bitcoin Briefly ‘Crashes’ To $24,000 On Binance
Changpeng “CZ” Zhao pushed back after a screenshot showing bitcoin at roughly $24,111 on Binance went viral on X, arguing the move was a microstructure glitch on a thin, newly listed BTC/USD1 pair rather than a broader market crash and that the exchange itself “is NOT involved in trades.”
Did Bitcoin Really Crash To $24,000?The sharp wick appeared isolated to BTC/USD1, a market quoted in USD1, a stablecoin launched by Trump family-backed World Liberty Financial. Within seconds, the pair snapped back toward prevailing bitcoin prices above $87,000, according to exchange data cited by traders sharing the screenshot.
CZ’s explanation was straightforward: on an illiquid order book, a single aggressive order can print an extreme price before arbitrage closes the gap. “This actually shows the exchange is NOT involved in trades. Low liquidity on new pairs means one large market order can spike prices, but arbitrageurs quickly corrected it. No liquidations occurred, as this pair isn’t included in any index.”
The Binance founder shared a breakdown from Head of Business Development of Solv Protocol Catherine Chan who said the move was “a liquidity event,” not a bitcoin collapse. She tied the dislocation to a Binance-and-USD1 promotion offering a 20% fixed APY deposit deal that, she claimed, pushed users to swap USDT into USD1 and briefly drove USD1 to a premium.
“Many users swapped USDT → USD1, pushing USD1 to a 0.39% premium: huge for a stablecoin. Smart money borrowed USD1 on @lista_dao against SolvBTC or SolvBTC-BTCB smart lending markets (~0.5% APY). They either deposited USD1 directly or sold it slowly on spot to meet demand. Then someone thought: ‘Why not just sell via BTC/USD1?’ They used a market order. Problem: BTC/USD1 has very thin liquidity. That market order wiped out most buy orders, briefly causing a very low price,” Catherine explained.
“Arbitrage bots instantly bought it back,” she wrote. “No fundamentals changed. No mass liquidations.”
The episode also picked up a familiar edge of crypto paranoia. One user, Bera (@doomsdart), framed it as a coordinated signal: “Cz and Trump family are telling us what they’re gonna do to our coins. Get ready.” CZ’s reply, by contrast, suggested the opposite — that the speed of arbitrage, and the absence of cascading liquidations, is evidence the venue wasn’t “printing” a market-wide price at all.
For traders, the takeaway is less dramatic than the screenshot implied, but still relevant: new quote-asset pairs can be structurally fragile, and promotions that rapidly concentrate flow into a single stablecoin can leave unusually thin order books in their wake. In that kind of market, a single market order can create a headline before it creates a trend.
At press time, Bitcoin traded at $89,298.
Bitcoin’s Long Game Is Winning, Even If The Short Term Looks Messy—CEO
US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs have shown net outflows in recent days, and that pull of money has added pressure to a market already under strain. According to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin traded around $88,750 at the time of recent reports, down about 27% from its all-time high of $125,100 hit on Oct. 5.
Reports have disclosed that a record-sized Bitcoin options expiry landed on Friday, Dec. 26, and several analysts say that event effectively “pinned” price into a narrow range — at least until volatility returns.
Market Flows And Options PressureAccording to multiple sources, outflows from major spot ETFs removed a key support for price that helped push Bitcoin higher earlier this year. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index has been in “Extreme Fear” since Dec. 12, which shows how fragile sentiment remains despite product and policy gains.
Options expiries of this size can concentrate bets and push price toward strike clusters. When those contracts roll off, the market often needs a new catalyst to move beyond the band it’s been stuck in.
Strong FundamentalsExecutives managing large Bitcoin treasuries argue fundamentals are solid even as price drops. Strategy CEO Phong Le told a podcast that the market’s long-term picture looks strong and that short-term moves “do what they do.”
“The fundamentals of the market for Bitcoin couldn’t be better this year,” Le said, pointing out that he doesn’t care too much about its short-term performance.
Reports note that Strategy’s market value relative to its Bitcoin holdings, mNAV, has fallen below 1 and sits at 0.93 according to Saylor Tracker. The company’s balance shows 671,268 Bitcoin, with an estimated value of about $58 billion. Those figures underline how a decline in spot price can quickly reshape the math for firms that hold Bitcoin on their books.
Traditional Banks Trying To Catch UpLe and Strategy’s executive chairman Michael Saylor have been meeting with banks across the US and the UAE, based on his comments, as institutions seek how to adjust to growing client demand and new product types.
According to reports, Galaxy Digital researcher Alex Thorn had said earlier in the year there was a “strong chance” the US government would signal a formal reserve move. US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a US Digital Asset Stockpile, although a fully detailed plan has not been released.
Policy Signals And Market ReactionPolicy support is a clear positive, yet markets do not always respond immediately to regulatory shifts. Signals can lower legal risk and widen access, but they do not always create instant buying. The mNAV reading below 1, plus ETF outflows and a fear reading stuck at “Extreme Fear,” shows there is skepticism about when that demand will arrive. Some players remain methodical, building dollar and Bitcoin treasuries and relying on model-based rules rather than emotion.
Based on reports and market indicators, the picture is mixed. Long-term commitments from firms and clearer policy language point to stronger structural backing. At the same time, short-term flows, options dynamics, and entrenched fear mean price can stay volatile and range-bound. Investors watching both the fund flows and policy calendar will likely decide which signal matters more next.
Featured image from World, chart from TradingView
Why You Should Pay Attention To XRP’s Exchange Netflows This Month
XRP’s price has spent recent weeks moving without a clear directional breakout. The price action has been mostly bearish, but activity beneath the surface is telling a more interesting story.
On-chain data shows XRP leaving Binance at a rapid pace, pushing the exchange’s reserves down to around 2.66 billion XRP, the lowest level recorded this year. This movement has garnered the interest of market participants because it is not reflective of the current price action of XRP. Insights from market commentator Stellar Rippler on X help explain why investors should pay attention to the netflows.
XRP Leaving Binance Means Positioning, Not PanicExchange netflows often give a clearer picture of market intent than short-term price movements. When reserves drop consistently, it usually reflects strategic decisions by holders. This month, XRP’s netflows are flashing signals that are worth watching closely.
The steady decline in Binance’s XRP reserves points to deliberate withdrawals instead of emotional reactions. According to commentary shared on X by Stellar Rippler, this type of movement does not correspond with retail panic selling.
Retail-based fear typically shows up as sudden deposits to exchanges as traders rush to exit positions. What the data shows instead is a controlled and sustained reduction in available exchange liquidity.
This pattern points to holders choosing custody outside exchanges, a behavior commonly associated with long-term allocations. Crypto history has shown that prolonged exchange outflows often occur when investors are confident in long-term demand, not when they anticipate a prolonged downward price action.
You don’t drain liquidity before bad news. In this context, XRP’s exchange netflows suggest preparation, not speculation.
Why Falling Binance Reserves Matter For Market StructureBinance is the largest crypto exchange in the world, meaning its XRP reserves represent the most readily available supply for a large portion of active traders. As more and more XRP continues to leave the exchange, the amount of XRP immediately available for spot trading keeps shrinking, gradually tightening liquidity even though the price has not reacted yet.
Speaking of price not reacting, XRP’s price action has struggled over the past few weeks, repeatedly failing to hold above the $2.00 price level and spending most of the period trading lower around the $1.80 to $1.95 range. Despite this, the data shows that the weak price performance is largely due to broader market outflows across every crypto, not a surge in XRP-specific selling.
The outflows in XRP exchange reserves are more meaningful when viewed alongside the steady inflows into Spot XRP ETFs, which are yet to record a day of net outflows since their launch. Those ETF inflows suggest institutional demand is increasing under the surface, even though it has so far been outweighed by capital leaving the wider crypto market.
Bitcoin Charting Its Own Path: BTC Now Moving Differently From Stocks, Gold
Data shows Bitcoin has seen a shift in Correlation, with the cryptocurrency now being independent of Nasdaq and negatively correlated to Gold.
Bitcoin Correlation To Nasdaq & Gold Has Changed RecentlyIn a new post on X, CryptoQuant community analyst Maartunn has talked about the latest trend in the Correlation that Bitcoin has to the Nasdaq and Gold. The “Correlation” here refers to an indicator that basically tells us about how tied together the prices of any two given assets are.
When the value of the metric is positive, it means the price of one asset is responding to movements in the other by moving in the same direction. The closer the value is to 1, the stronger this relationship is.
On the other hand, the indicator being under the zero mark suggests a negative correlation exists between the assets. That is, the two are going in the opposite directions. The extreme level for this region lies at -1. A third case also exists for the metric, where its value becomes exactly equal to zero. When this happens, the prices don’t hold any relationship with each other whatsoever. In statistics, the variables are said to be “independent” under this condition.
Now, here is the chart shared by Maartunn that shows the trend in the Bitcoin Correlation to Nasdaq and Gold over the last few years:
As displayed in the above graph, the Bitcoin Correlation indicator was at notable positive levels for both Nasdaq and Gold in mid-2025, implying the cryptocurrency was strongly bound to traditional markets. As the year went on, however, a shift began to take shape, with the indicator declining for both assets. Today, the metric is sitting at a nearly neutral level for Nasdaq, a sign that Bitcoin is now trading independently from the US stock market.
The story is a bit different when it comes to Gold, however, as the Correlation has actually plummeted into the negative territory. With an indicator value of about -0.5, BTC can be considered to have a significant inverse relationship to Gold. Bitcoin is popularly thought of as the digital analogue to Gold’s “safe haven,” but given the latest Correlation, the cryptocurrency doesn’t appear to be behaving like one right now.
“BTC is no longer trading like a tech stock or a safe haven,” noted the analyst. “It’s carving out its own market regime.” It now remains to be seen whether the new Correlation behavior will maintain or if the cryptocurrency will face another shift soon.
BTC PriceBitcoin has been consolidating sideways since its decline at the start of the week as its price is still trading around $87,500.
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