Bitcoin stabilizes after seven-month low as ETF holders stay put

Bitcoin steadied Tuesday after last week’s seven-month low, with traders pointing to easing selling pressure, cheaper downside protection in options and volatility measures back to April levels, Bloomberg reports.

The largest cryptocurrency slipped intraday but held above last week’s trough, which had triggered heavy liquidations and erased more than $1 trillion from the digital-asset market. It later firmed in New York trading, with activity described as cautious.

In the options market, the premium for one-week puts over calls narrowed sharply from Friday’s peak, noted Caroline Mauron, co-founder of Orbit Markets. “This indicates the level of stress has come down significantly, and investors expect we’ve seen the bottom for now,” she said.

Measures of expected price swings also cooled. Noelle Acheson, author of the Crypto is Macro Now newsletter, pointed out that implied volatility on Bitcoin options has returned to April levels, when tariff headlines set off selling. “This suggests traders are positioning for a breakout, which could of course be in either direction,” she said, adding that options skew points to softening bets on further declines relative to wagers on a rebound.

Flows remain negative. Global crypto exchange-traded products have recorded more than $6 billion of outflows so far in November, the largest monthly withdrawal on record back to 2018. In the U.S., Bitcoin ETFs saw about $3.7 billion of redemptions this month, roughly 3% of their assets, while short interest in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust has fallen sharply, figures from S3 Partners indicate.

Spot activity has been subdued, according to BTC Markets analyst Rachael Lucas, who highlighted $80,000 as near-term support and $90,000 to $95,000 as resistance for any rebound.

Equities started the week higher, led by technology shares, while attention turns to the Federal Reserve’s December meeting. Futures pricing puts the probability of a rate cut at about 80%, up from roughly 42% a week earlier. Officials have signaled differing views after reductions in September and October. “The market is going to be in wait-and-see mode until the Fed’s decision,” Mauron noted.

Even with the bounce, Bitcoin remains on course for a weak month, and ETFs tied to the token are heading for their heaviest monthly outflows since launch.