State of Balance

In last Monday's note, we discussed a variety of data points suggesting Bitcoin was in the beginning phases of carving out a tradable bottom.

We also mentioned that we anticipate a few weeks of sideways price action ahead of further upward price discovery. Since then, we've seen a handful of developments paint a more neutral picture.

Unlike spot prices, futures never flipped to buying and are still in a fairly strong regime of selling via calendar futures.

There's also been a gentle deleveraging of open interest and an increase in defensive positioning, as investors have been withdrawing capital off the back of geopolitical volatility.

Meanwhile, legacy markets continue to act as a headwind. Bitcoin and equity trading correlations remain high, and it's yet to be seen whether Bitcoin can front-run equity weakness, like what took place in October last year.

This all takes place as Bitcoin remains above our risk level of 41,000.

Futures Selling Intensifies

One of the limitations of evaluating spot flows since November is that despite steady flows and a lack of heavy distribution, the market is moving to the new era of futures and derivative maturation.