Analysis: Crypto Derivatives Market Shifts to Bearish, Potential for Larger Liquidation if Bitcoin Drops Below $60,000

June 4. The cryptocurrency market faced a fresh wave of selling and liquidations on Thursday, with Bitcoin hitting $61,300 at its lowest point before bouncing back to $64,680; it is now trading around $62,500. Over the past two days, total leveraged position liquidations across the entire crypto market reached roughly $3 billion. Data shows that in the last 24 hours, futures trading volume climbed to $305 billion, but open interest dropped 8.5% to $111.4 billion—indicating the market is focused on deleveraging rather than adding new positions. Bitcoin futures open interest fell from a record high of more than 800,000 BTC yesterday to 766,000 BTC. Investors appear to be exiting the crypto market and shifting their focus to the AI trend in traditional markets. The derivatives sector has shifted sharply to a bearish outlook. Both Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) put-call skews have tightened, a sign that investors are willing to pay a higher premium for downside protection. Open interest for BTC put options with a $60,000 strike price on Deribit has exceeded $1 billion, and the most actively traded options contract in the past 24 hours is the $55,000 put option. Altcoins have seen steeper declines: NEAR, ZEC, JUP, DASH, ENA, and FET all dropped more than 10%, while HYPE fell 12% after hitting a new high earlier this week. The future price movements of altcoins will largely depend on whether Bitcoin can hold above $60,000. If this level is breached, it could trigger more liquidations and put greater pressure on altcoin trading pairs with lower liquidity.