BlockBeats News, June 26th. In the past 24 hours, the cryptocurrency derivatives market experienced a large-scale liquidation, with a total of approximately $1 billion in liquidated positions. Ethereum saw a higher liquidation volume than Bitcoin. At the same time, the Bitcoin futures open interest continued to rise for the second consecutive day, reaching 778,000 BTC. The sharp increase in open interest at the end of Thursday indicated that Bitcoin traders were adding to their short positions in the downward trend. In contrast, the Ethereum futures open interest has remained stable around 14 million ETH since June 15th, with Ethereum traders not actively shorting during the price drop. The adjusted 24-hour trading volume difference based on open interest revealed that the top 25 large-cap cryptocurrencies remained predominantly short, with only BNB, SOL, and TON as exceptions.

Meanwhile, the Bitcoin 30-day annualized implied volatility index surged to 53%, its highest level since June 7th, while the Ethereum volatility index rose to 66%. In the crypto options market, last week the skew for Bitcoin options approached 30%, with a significant premium on put options. In large trades, put options expiring on July 10th with a strike price of $53,000 have been observed, reflecting a strong demand for downside hedging.