Bitcoin recovers to 115k after weekend leveraged liquidations

Bitcoin plunged from roughly 122,000 to about 101,000 over the weekend, triggering one of the biggest waves of leveraged liquidations in recent memory before recovering to trade near 115,000 by Tuesday. The sharp selloff wiped out billions of dollars of futures positions, sent funding rates briefly negative and prompted widespread deleveraging across major exchanges, while spot-market holders largely refrained from selling into the drop.

Data from derivatives and onchain metrics show the disturbance was sizable. Open interest in Bitcoin futures fell by roughly 12 billion over the week, and more than 11 billion of leveraged positions were cleared in a single, rapid liquidation event. The estimated leverage ratio dropped to levels not seen since 2022, and funding rates flipped briefly negative during the worst of the volatility before returning to modestly positive territory. At the same time, the Stablecoin Supply Ratio fell to its lowest since April, indicating a larger pool of unspent stablecoins that could provide buying power when volatility subsides.

Despite the price rout, spot-market behavior has been comparatively orderly. Exchange net-position data indicate only about...