Bitcoin hovers below $80K amid strong bearish sentiment, renewed risk appetite

• Bitcoin continues to trade below $80,000 as selling pressure weighs on market sentiment.
• Futures open interest dropped to $36 billion from $38 billion, suggesting a shift in speculative activity amid growing demand for long exposure.
• Bitcoin ETF volumes point to a decline in trading activity amid persistent net outflows.

Bitcoin (BTC) continues to trade below the $80,000 mark as persistent selling pressure weighs on broader market sentiment, according to a Monday report from Glassnode.

Last week, the top crypto declined from around $79,000 to a local low near $74,000 before recovering toward the $77,000 level. During the period, price momentum dropped sharply by 21.7%, reflecting weaker short-term price action.

Bitcoin spot trading activity cools amid easing selling pressure

Spot trading volume declined by 10%, pointing to reduced participation and a more cautious stance among traders.

Conversely, spot Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD) climbed 77.2%, while Perpetual CVD rose 35.5%, indicating that aggressive sell-side activity is beginning to moderate and market conditions are gradually stabilizing.

Futures open interest fell to approximately $36 billion from $38 billion, signaling a pullback in speculative positioning. On the other hand, demand for upside exposure is beginning to re-emerge. Long-side funding payments surged by 135.4%, highlighting a growing appetite for long positions despite the broader market weakness.

The metric is supported by a rise in funding payments from $783,000 to $1.8 million, suggesting traders are willing to pay a premium to maintain their bullish positions.

On the institutional side, ETF trading volumes dropped 22.9% to $9.24 billion, underscoring a slowdown in speculative flows. The decline comes as issuers continue to record outflows, with US spot Bitcoin ETFs seeing $1.18 billion in outflows last week.

However, that represents a 28% improvement from net withdrawals of $1.66 billion the previous week. Meanwhile, unrealized gains rose slightly by 0.69%.

"This marginal increase may indicate a stable or cautiously optimistic sentiment among TradFi investors, with limited immediate pressure from profit-taking," Glassnode wrote.

On-chain activity reflects a similar consolidation trend, with declines in daily active addresses and transfer volumes suggesting reduced short-term engagement. At the same time, liquidity metrics indicate a more stable market structure, characterized by stronger conviction among long-term holders and reduced speculation.

Still, profitability indicators highlight lingering pressure. The net unrealized profit/loss ratio declined, while realized losses outpaced realized profits, suggesting cautious sentiment and continued downside risk.

Meanwhile, CryptoQuant data reveals that Bitcoin's Apparent Demand has fallen to its most negative level since December, with estimates nearing -147,000 BTC. The metric suggests that structural accumulation is insufficient to absorb new issuance, indicating that overall demand continues to contract.

"Periods where demand slows sharply and sentiment becomes excessively pessimistic are often the moments that deserve the most attention," CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost wrote in a Monday report.

Without a meaningful recovery in spot demand, the analyst argued that sustaining a durable rally may prove difficult. While futures markets can support short-term momentum and amplify price movements, bullish cycles require stronger spot demand to provide a more stable foundation.

Bitcoin is trading at $77,100, up 0.5% at the time of publication.