Bitcoin Holds Above $80,000 After Wednesday’s Jump as Injective Rallies on Staked ETF Listing

Bitcoin Stabilizes Above $80,000 as Short Squeeze Fuels Rebound

The cryptocurrency market demonstrated renewed resilience as Bitcoin held ground above the critical $80,000 mark. After dipping slightly by 0.2% to trade near $80,250 since midnight UTC, the leading digital asset sustained its momentum from Wednesday’s breakout from the $78,000 range. Meanwhile, Ether slipped 0.4% to $2,417.97, even as the broader CoinDesk 80 Index managed a 0.9% advance. On a 24-hour scale, Bitcoin and Ether logged gains of 2.5% and 4%, respectively.

The broader crypto rebound aligned with dynamic shifts across global macro markets. Wednesday’s price surges coincided with an approximate 8% decline in crude oil prices alongside gains in U.S. equities following the midterms. While Brent crude oil slightly rebounded to trade at $95 per barrel after Wednesday’s sharp decline, Wall Street equity futures experienced a modest retreat ahead of crucial U.S. economic data, including weekly jobless claims and the forthcoming non-farm payrolls report. S&P 500 futures fell 0.1%, and Nasdaq-100 futures dropped 0.8%.

Derivatives Breakdown: Massive Liquidation Waves and Shifting Skew

Short Squeeze Propels Bitcoin Derivatives Activity

Market-wide crypto futures turnover climbed 15% across a 24-hour stretch to touch $244 billion, yet aggregate open interest only expanded by 1% to $139.9 billion. This divergence demonstrates that recent activity was characterized predominantly by rapid portfolio rotation rather than an injection of fresh capital. Total liquidations surged 53% to $715 million, with short sellers accounting for roughly 65% of the wiped positions. Concurrently, the taker buy-sell volume ratio pivoted from a buy lean to a slight sell bias at 50.6%.

For Bitcoin specifically, open interest ticked up a marginal 0.3% against a 2.6% price increase. Notably, short positions accounted for 93% of the $267 million in liquidated Bitcoin positions, confirming that Wednesday’s advance was largely engineered by forced short covering. Despite the mechanics of the squeeze, underlying derivative positioning remains constructive: funding rates remain positive and higher than the previous day, confirming that long positions are paying shorts to keep exposure open.

Options Demand Pivots Toward Upside Calls

Options markets mirrored this structural shift as downside hedging evaporatively cleared. Bitcoin’s one-week skew—the pricing premium of put options over call options—plunged from 11% down to roughly 2%, illustrating a rapid evaporation of downside protection demand. Furthermore, one-week implied volatility softened toward 33%. Reflecting this confidence, five of Bitcoin’s six most actively traded contracts were call options holding strike prices ranging from $78,000 to $85,000, leaving only a single put contract on the top board. In contrast, Ether options reflected lingering caution, with four of the six most active contracts remaining puts positioned below spot price.

Altcoin Dynamics: Injective Surges on ETF Approval While PolitiFi Slumps

Performance throughout the alternative cryptocurrency sector diverged sharply. Injective (INJ) led the CoinDesk 100 benchmark, advancing around 6% since midnight UTC and approximately 10% over 24 hours. The rally followed Nasdaq’s approval to list Canary Capital’s staked INJ ETF, slated to trade under the ticker INJC according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Elsewhere in the market, Near Protocol (NEAR) faced a reversal; after logging high market-order demand a day earlier, NEAR recorded the weakest buying pressure as open interest fell 2.7% alongside a 1.1% price drop. Zcash (ZEC) also cooled, seeing its volume slip 13% while open interest added 3.5% alongside a 3.6% price rise. Cumulative volume delta metrics highlighted strength for the Sui network (SUI), whereas TRON (TRX), GRAM, and BNB showed negative order-flow delta.

Conversely, politically tied tokens encountered heavy selling pressure coinciding with Democratic gains in the midterms. Official Trump (TRUMP) fell around 14% over 24 hours—making it the poorest performer among top-100 assets on CoinMarketCap—while World Liberty Financial (WLFI) shed 4%. Overall market sentiment improved moderately, with the CoinMarketCap Fear and Greed Index rising from 37 to a neutral 42, while the Altcoin Season Index registered at 49.

Why This Matters

The stabilization of Bitcoin above the $80,000 threshold marks a decisive psychological victory for digital asset markets, especially as institutional allocations return via spot exchange-traded funds. Farside Investors reported that U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs accumulated $74.6 million in net inflows on Wednesday, ending a three-day outflow sequence. When combined with the sudden drop in put skew and the approval of novel crypto-asset exchange-traded products like Canary Capital’s staked INJ vehicle, the structural architecture of institutional participation continues to broaden despite short-term macro fluctuations.

Frequently Asked Questions

What drove the recent Bitcoin rally above $80,000?

The surge was largely driven by a massive derivatives short squeeze. Approximately 93% of the $267 million in liquidated Bitcoin positions were short bets, forcing bearish traders to close positions as prices climbed higher alongside falling crude oil prices and easing post-midterm market anxieties.

How did institutional ETF flows behave during this period?

Institutional flows turned net positive as U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs brought in $74.6 million in inflows on Wednesday. This ended a consecutive three-day stretch of capital outflows, according to data from Farside Investors.

Why did Injective (INJ) outperform other major altcoins?

Injective rallied approximately 10% in 24 hours after an SEC regulatory filing revealed that Nasdaq approved the listing of Canary Capital’s staked INJ ETF under the ticker INJC, signaling expanded access to institutional investment vehicles for the asset.