Key Notes
The drop in Bitcoin’s open interest indicates that traders are becoming cautious and closing positions.
The price weakness around $90,000 reflects deleveraging.
Spot BTC ETFs recorded a net outflow of over $1.1 billion in just three days.
The Bitcoin open interest just fell to late 2022 levels, when the FTX collapse brought the crypto market down, and the leading asset fell to $15,000.
According to a CryptoQuant analysis, leading crypto exchanges saw notable declines in their futures contracts for the first time in just over three years.
Binance leads the list with a decline of 1.53 million BTC in its 30-day open interest change indicator, followed by Bybit’s 784,000 BTC, Gate’s 505,000 BTC, and OKX’s 395,000 BTC drops.
This means far fewer traders are holding active futures contracts. CoinGlass data shows that the total BTC open interest is currently sitting at $62 billion. On Oct. 7, it reached an all-time high of just over $94 billion.
The drop in open interest is not new leverage building but is deleveraging as traders have been closing risky positions.
However, this might not be a strong bearish signal. The CryptoQuant analyst explains that when leverage gets flushed out like this, the market often pauses or reverses later.
Bitcoin is currently trading at $90,900, showing a sideways movement over the past 24 hours.
A Much-Needed Reset
January started with a market-wide surge for the crypto market, with Bitcoin breaking above $94,000, but a deeper reset started to surface.
On Jan. 6, the BTC price rose to a local high of $94,700. Technical indicators, the monthly moving average convergence/divergence (MACD) on OTHERS/BTC, for instance, turned bullish.
Related article: Arthur Hayes: Why Venezuelan Oil Matters for Bitcoin
According to a Santiment analysis, major headlines around exchange-traded funds acted as a bullish catalyst for Bitcoin’s upward momentum in the first week of January.
? 2026 has seen bounces for several cryptocurrencies that the crowd had been showing impatience toward. Our latest insight explores retail sentiment toward the top assets in crypto, and what some of the news headlines have been to drive hype for each. ?https://t.co/HoSelMdCt6 pic.twitter.com/url5Dgq72G
— Santiment (@santimentfeed) January 9, 2026
The banking giant Morgan Stanley also filed for an Ethereum ETF. This also triggered a short-term spike in ETH and altcoin prices. However, the bullish momentum saw a blockage soon. Bitcoin’s fall below $90,000 triggered a market-wide selloff, bringing in over $450 million in daily liquidations.
Spot BTC ETFs in the US recorded a net outflow of $1.12 billion over the past three days, according to data from SoSoValue.
On the other hand, the Santiment analyst suggests that the market participants are “de-risking” due to the upcoming US economic data, including the jobs report and the shifting rate-cut expectations.
Overall, the most likely near-term scenario is further consolidation or a mild rebound, but not an immediate breakout.
