Bitcoin steadies above $60,000 while derivatives send an unambiguous warning
Key takeaways
- Traders loaded up on $60,000 puts in anticipation of further declines.By Oliver Knight, Omkar Godbole|Edited by Sheldon Reback Jun 4, 2026, 11:02 a.m.
- Ether (ETH) lost 3% since midnight UTC, now trading at around $1,750.
- The downside move triggered a wave of liquidations with $1.7 billion worth of futures positions being forcibly closed due to the slide, $750 million worth of that can be attributed to bitcoin, $390 million to ether.
Traders loaded up on $60,000 puts in anticipation of further declines.By Oliver Knight, Omkar Godbole|Edited by Sheldon Reback Jun 4, 2026, 11:02 a.m. 3 min read Make preferred on Bitcoin price (Coin Desk Data)What to know: Bitcoin plunged to $61,300 before recovering to around $62,500, contributing to $3 billion in liquidations over two days as open interest fell 8.5% to $111.4 billion.Derivatives markets are firmly in bear territory. Put skews have strengthened on both bitcoin and ether and the $60,000 strike put on Deribit carries over $1 billion in notional open interest.Solana open interest surged to a record even as prices fell, a combination that typically signals aggressive short accumulation and reflects SOL's relative weakness after breaking below its February low.The crypto market succumbed to a wave of selling pressure and liquidations on Thursday, with bitcoin BTC$63,729.63 tumbling to around $61,300 at 02:00 UTC before recovering to as high as $64,680. It recently traded around $62,500.
Ether (ETH) lost 3% since midnight UTC, now trading at around $1,750. Several other altcoins saw deeper declines, with NEAR, ZEC and JUP all losing more than 13%.
The downside move triggered a wave of liquidations with $1.7 billion worth of futures positions being forcibly closed due to the slide, $750 million worth of that can be attributed to bitcoin, $390 million to ether.