Bitcoin’s rebound gathered speed after a sharp dip tied to Strategy’s announced Bitcoin sales, with price quickly recovering from the $61,300 area to around $63,500. The move came despite a noticeable shift in leverage indicators, suggesting that while traders remained cautious, demand for exposure wasn’t completely broken.

Derivatives data showed a mixed picture: perpetual futures funding rates climbed to a positive level, while options pricing reflected only mild stress. At the same time, US spot Bitcoin ETF flows showed a potentially important counter-signal—net inflows after a streak of outflows—raising the odds that any bounce could find support beyond short-term trading.

Key takeaways

• Perpetual futures funding rates rose to around 9% annualized on Monday, indicating leverage demand was more balanced than during the prior negative-funding period.
• Deribit’s put-to-call premium ratio moved to roughly 1.15, a level below typical stress thresholds (often above 2), pointing to contained—not escalating—options anxiety.
• US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $223 million in net inflows on Friday (the first after 10 straight outflow days), countering sentiment hit by June’s record outflows.
• On-chain data highlighted sellers’ exhaustion near the $60,000 support zone, though derivatives traders may still wait for repeated ETF inflow confirmation before pressing higher targets.

Selloff fades as leverage metrics stabilize

After Strategy’s Bitcoin sale announcement, Bitcoin dipped to approximately $61,300 and then moved swiftly back upward. The rapid recovery mattered for two reasons: it suggested the market absorbed supply without triggering a prolonged cascading liquidation wave, and it highlighted that trader positioning did not fully align with a “bear-control” narrative.

Perpetual futures provide one of the clearest near-term gauges of leveraged sentiment. According to Laevitas funding data, the Bitcoin perpetual futures annualized funding rate jumped to 9% on Monday. Positive funding generally implies that traders using perpetuals are paying for long exposure—often seen when the market is no longer dominated by bearish leverage.

Importantly, this change moved the indicator away from the bearish momentum seen on Saturday, when funding rates were negative. While 9% annualized doesn’t automatically signal strong bullish conviction on its own, the shift does indicate that the balance between long and short leverage tightened rather than deteriorated.

Options offered a second, slightly different read on risk. Laevitas data referenced through Deribit showed the put-to-call premium ratio at about 1.15 on Monday. This metric compares the relative pricing of downside-focused puts versus upside calls. The ratio had been lower in the previous days, but on Monday put premiums started to outweigh calls again—though only modestly.

Historically, periods of acute market stress often push this ratio above 2. With the indicator staying around 1.15, the implication is that while some participants were paying for downside protection, they were not pricing an immediate breakdown scenario.

ETF flows return after outflows—momentum traders may take notice

One of the strongest supporting signals for a sustained recovery is spot ETF flow behavior. Earlier coverage noted that US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $223 million in net inflows on Friday, according to reporting linked in the source. That day marked the first inflow after 10 consecutive outflow sessions, which had compounded bearish sentiment.

The broader context is crucial: the record-high $4.51 billion net outflows in June left traders bracing for continued selling pressure. In that environment, a single inflow day can be easy to dismiss—but repeated inflows tend to matter more for the market’s ability to hold higher levels without constant hedging demand.

The market’s reaction to derivatives positioning appears aligned with this framework. Even though funding and options stabilized, the bounce to roughly $63,500 did not immediately translate into “bullishness” strong enough to erase all caution among leverage traders. That pattern fits the idea that ETF buyers may need to show persistence before derivatives market participants fully commit to a higher-range outlook.

Strategy overhang: cash buffer versus unrealized loss pressure

The selloff pressure connected to Strategy’s Bitcoin sales remains a key variable for short-term sentiment. The source attributes part of the recent bearish tone to strain around Strategy preferred perpetual equity Stretch (STRC US), which had offered holders an attractive yield. It also notes that new stock issuance occurs only at a fixed $100 price, meaning the company may have fewer channels at times to support dividend-related expectations.

Even so, the article emphasizes that Strategy still holds enough cash to cover about 17 months of dividends. That detail complicates the “forced selling” storyline: if dividend coverage is secure for a meaningful period, investors must reassess how urgent additional Bitcoin sales truly are.

However, the same analysis points to why bears still have room to press the market. Strategy’s debt leverage is described as extremely low (around 8%), yet the company is facing approximately $8 billion in unrealized losses from prior Bitcoin purchases. In practice, unrealized drawdowns can still influence market psychology—particularly when investors connect Bitcoin exposure decisions to broader equity and preferred-structure stability.

That combination helps explain why derivatives traders may remain skeptical. For them, Strategy is not only a cashflow story; it’s also a persistent factor in how markets interpret the future supply of Bitcoin linked to corporate decisions.

On-chain seller exhaustion strengthens $60,000, but confirmation is still needed

Beyond derivatives and ETF flows, the source highlights on-chain evidence suggesting that selling pressure is not expanding. It references Glassnode data showing that transfers from long-term holders to exchanges have fallen to an average of 4,130 BTC per day. The figure is down from about 8,040 BTC per day one week prior.

This kind of decline matters because it often signals that long-term holders are less willing—or less able—to move coins toward exchanges. In the article’s framing, that seller exhaustion supports the $60,000 support level.

Yet the piece also cautions that on-chain stabilization alone may not be enough to sustain a large upside move. Unless spot Bitcoin ETFs begin a sequence of relevant net inflows, derivatives traders may keep risk management switched on—reducing the likelihood of a sustained rally above $65,000.

In other words, the market may be able to bounce due to reduced exchange-bound supply, but it still needs buy-side confirmation from spot demand channels to convert a rebound into a durable trend.

For now, investors should watch two things closely: whether ETF inflows become a multi-day pattern rather than a one-off turn, and whether derivatives stress indicators—funding and options pricing—continue to ease as price holds the $60,000 area.

Michael Saylor’s Strategy sold 3,588 Bitcoin (BTC) to fund preferred stock dividend payments and replenish its cash reserves.

Strategy sold the Bitcoin for $216 million, reducing its total holdings to 843,775 Bitcoin, according to a Monday 8-K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

This included 1,363 Bitcoin sold at an average price of $59,256 between last Monday and Tuesday, and 2,225 Bitcoin sold at an average price of $60,773 between Wednesday and Sunday.

Strategy disclosed the sale of 32 Bitcoin in early June, as its first reported Bitcoin sale since the 2022 tax-loss transaction.

On its June 29 8-K filing, Strategy unveiled a capital framework allowing Bitcoin sales to fund dividends, increased the annual dividend rate on its STRC preferred stock to 12%, and disclosed that its US dollar reserve had grown to $2.55 billion. Monday’s filing showed the dollar reserve remained unchanged.

Form 8-K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Source: Strategy

Strategy’s perpetual preferred stock, STRC, traded at $88.70, or 11.3% below its $100 intended par value, during Monday’s pre-market trading session, Yahoo Finance data shows.

STRC is one of Strategy’s main mechanisms to fund its Bitcoin accumulation. Trading below par limits Strategy’s ability to raise funds through STRC sales. It may also force the company to further increase its nominal dividend rate to attract buyers and protect STRC’s price.

Bernstein says Strategy unlikely to face forced Bitcoin sales

Before Strategy disclosed its latest Bitcoin sale, Bernstein said the company was unlikely to be forced to sell its holdings, citing its liquidity position and cash reserve coverage.

Bernstein’s report said Strategy had 17 months of cash to cover dividend obligations and interest payments. It added that the company remained a net buyer of Bitcoin and served as a strong “balancing force” in a market where leading US Bitcoin miners are net sellers due to their pivot to AI.

Strategy yearly net accumulation. Source: Bernstein

Bernstein said Strategy’s accumulation had been an important “balancing force” amid selling by US Bitcoin miners and the $5.5 billion of outflows from Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) so far in 2026.

Related: Dormant $1.9M Bitcoin tied to New York lawsuit moves after nearly 15 years

Strategy’s debt liabilities were a “mere” 13% of its Bitcoin collateral value. The company’s next principal payment of about $1 billion is due in the third quarter of 2028, according to Bernstein.

Bernstein maintained its $150,000 year-end Bitcoin price target, saying it remained “optimistic on Bitcoin long-term.”

Magazine: Bitcoin slides to $58K, XRP hits $1 but onchain data promising: Market Moves

The White House’s chief crypto adviser, Patrick Witt, and his predecessor in that role had both said that they’ll need Congress to fully back up the formation and activation of the crypto funds. Presidential orders don’t carry the weight of law, and no legislation has yet advanced, though such efforts have simmered among lawmakers in both the Senate and House of Representatives, And if Republicans lose the majority in the House or both chambers in this year’s midterm elections, it’s unlikely such a bill will formalize Trump’s concept anytime soon.

Read More: Those who cheered U.S. Bitcoin reserve have spent year watching Trump’s order languish

Even if the administration works out the structure for the funds, it’s unclear whether they’ll be able to pull the lever to officially put its bitcoin holding — estimated at more than 300,000, or about $21 billion — into that virtual vault.

The government’s bitcoin holdings would be a long-term investment. Trump and his administration has called it a strategic reserve, though it doesn’t fit the usual definition of that phrase, because it’s meant to be held for a long period and not doled out during market emergencies.

When Trump issued the order, he asked his administration to come up with ways to acquire more bitcoin without using taxpayer money. Several ideas have since been floated, though if they’d started buying the asset when Trump called for it, they’d have bought at $93,000, and BTC has dropped by about a third since then to today’s price just above $64,000.

Former Tether chief investment officer Richard Heathcote is seeking to sell part of his 1.26% stake in the stablecoin issuer, according to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter.

Heathcote stepped down as Tether’s chief investment officer in March to take an advisory role after overseeing the stablecoin issuer’s investment portfolio. Bloomberg reported the planned sale involves only part of his 1.26% ownership stake.

Tether issues USDt (USDT), the world’s largest stablecoin by market capitalization. With a circulating supply of roughly $184 billion, USDT accounts for roughly 59% of the stablecoin market, according to DefiLlama data.

The planned sale could offer a rare look at ownership in Tether, which remains privately held despite becoming one of the crypto industry’s most profitable companies.

The sale also comes as Tether navigates regulatory pressure in Europe. USDT has been delisted by a growing number of MiCA-authorized platforms after Tether opted not to comply with the European Union’s crypto framework, with Revolut announcing this month that it will remove the stablecoin from its platform.

Related: Strategy sells 3,588 Bitcoin for $216M to fund dividends, keeps $2.55B reserve intact

Crypto companies weigh IPOs 

While Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino has said outright that the stablecoin issuer does not need to go public, several other crypto companies are reportedly mulling initial public offerings (IPOs).

Kraken has taken several steps toward a public listing. Fortune reported in September 2025 that the crypto exchange had raised $500 million at a $15 billion valuation, fueling expectations that the exchange was preparing for an IPO.

Source: Paolo Ardoino

The company also announced it had confidentially filed a draft registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering in November 2025. However, Bloomberg later reported that the IPO plans could be pushed back until 2027 following layoffs tied to the company’s expanding use of artificial intelligence.

South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb also announced in April that it is delaying its IPO until after 2028 as it works to strengthen its accounting policies and internal controls following earlier regulatory setbacks.

Magazine: The end of anonymity? AI could unmask crypto’s hidden identities

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

Quick Summary

• Arm Holdings shares advanced approximately 5% during Monday’s session, reaching $330.97 as market participants shifted focus back to artificial intelligence and semiconductor stocks
• Despite surging 121% year-over-year, the stock currently trades roughly 9.7% beneath its 20-day moving average following a recent correction
• The company reports quarterly results on July 29, with analysts projecting earnings per share of 36 cents and revenue of $1.27 billion
• Wall Street maintains a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with 19 buy recommendations, 7 hold ratings, and 1 sell; the average target price stands at $279.83
• Top-tier analysts from TD Cowen and UBS have set ambitious price objectives between $470 and $475, significantly exceeding consensus estimates

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Arm Holdings (ARM) experienced a robust 5% advance on Monday, closing at $330.97, as market enthusiasm returned to artificial intelligence and semiconductor equities. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.41% during the session, providing tailwinds for chip-related names.

Arm Holdings plc American Depositary Shares, ARM

The stock has delivered impressive returns — posting a 121% gain over the trailing twelve months — though it has experienced notable consolidation since mid-June. Currently, shares trade approximately 9.7% under their 20-day simple moving average of $360.16.

The 50-day moving average rests at $301.29, establishing a critical support zone near $298.50. This level has previously attracted buying interest during recent declines, making it a crucial threshold for technical analysts to monitor.

A golden cross pattern that emerged in April continues to hold, which market technicians typically interpret as a constructive indicator for intermediate to long-term momentum.

The Relative Strength Index registers at 46.83 — firmly in neutral range. While the stock isn’t approaching overbought conditions, it also hasn’t established clear directional momentum following June’s retracement.

July 29 Earnings Report on the Horizon

Arm’s next quarterly earnings announcement is scheduled for July 29. Wall Street consensus calls for earnings per share of 36 cents, representing an increase from 35 cents in the comparable year-ago period. Revenue projections stand at $1.27 billion, up from $1.05 billion reported during the same quarter last year.

While these figures demonstrate consistent expansion, the stock’s price-to-earnings multiple of 370.9 suggests elevated expectations are already priced in. Any disappointment in results or forward guidance could trigger significant downside pressure.

ARM’s most recent quarterly performance delivered $0.60 in earnings per share on $1.49 billion in revenue, achieving a net profit margin of 18.37%.

Analyst Sentiment and Price Targets

The Street maintains a “Moderate Buy” consensus based on 27 analyst ratings — breaking down to 19 buy recommendations, 7 hold ratings, and 1 sell. The mean 12-month price objective stands at $279.83, notably below current trading levels.

More optimistic Wall Street firms paint a bullish picture. TD Cowen reaffirmed its Buy stance on June 24, elevating its price target to $475. UBS echoed this sentiment, raising its objective to $470 on the same date. Bank of America maintained its Neutral rating while increasing its target to $460.

Conversely, New Street Research downgraded Arm from Buy to Neutral on June 18, expressing concerns about stretched valuation metrics. Several analysts have cautioned that share prices have outpaced underlying business fundamentals, and potential selling pressure from SoftBank could present challenges.

Insider activity has tilted toward selling. During the previous three months, company insiders disposed of 248,205 shares valued at approximately $57.7 million.

Recent developments include Oracle Cloud Infrastructure joining ARM’s AGI CPU ecosystem, broadening the company’s presence in agentic AI applications and data center computing. Nvidia recently introduced an ARM-based laptop processor, further demonstrating the architecture’s expanding market penetration.

Institutional investors hold 7.53% of outstanding shares, with multiple new positions established during Q1 and Q2 2026.

With a beta coefficient of 3.76, ARM exhibits significant volatility relative to broader market movements. The 52-week trading range spans from $100.02 to $452.70.

Investors will turn their attention to the July 29 earnings release as the next major market-moving event.

The decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) behind the Bonk (BONK) memecoin reported that an unknown entity had removed $20 million worth of the tokens in what it described as an attack using a “malicious governance proposal.”

In a Monday X post, the Bonk project said that it had informed law enforcement after the $20 million attack and was working to “recover funds and identify those responsible.” According to BonkDAO, the parties had drained $20 million in tokens from the project’s treasury on the Solana blockchain.

One of the dog-themed memecoins, along with tokens like Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB), BONK launched in December 2022, with its developers airdropping half of the token’s total supply. The price of BONK dropped about 7% over 24 hours amid reports of the attack, to about $0.05.

Source: Bonk Inu

The market capitalization of the top memecoins, including DOGE, SHIB and Pepe (PEPE), hit a two-year low last week, dropping to about $22 billion before recovering to more than $26 billion in July. According to CoinMarketCap data, the total market cap was $25.3 billion at the time of publication, down more than 54% over the previous 12 months.

Related: US senator calls for ban on elected officials issuing memecoins

In May, the memecoin launch platform DxSale reported losing $7.3 million in tokens following a cyberattack affecting liquidity providers on the BNB Chain. Although sleuths were able to identify the attacker’s wallet, one expert said the infrastructure used to move the funds could make tracing them difficult.

Trump memecoin holders lose big as president reports billions in crypto earnings

On Saturday, the New York Times reported that about 1 million investors in US President Donald Trump’s memecoin, Official Trump (TRUMP), had collectively lost $3.8 million as of June 30. The report, citing data from blockchain analytics company Nansen, came a few days after the president disclosed that he had earned more than $1.4 billion from his crypto-related ventures, including about $635 million from memecoin projects.

Magazine: Does ‘Paper Bitcoin’ mean there’s an unlimited supply of BTC?

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

Crypto-related losses have fallen 46.8% year over year to $1.32 billion during the first half of 2026, but blockchain security firm CertiK has warned that the decline does not indicate a safer digital asset ecosystem.

According to CertiK’s H1 2026 security report, the lower loss figure is heavily influenced by the absence of an event on the scale of the $1.4 billion Bybit exploit recorded in the same period last year.

The firm said a simple comparison of headline numbers creates a misleading impression because attackers are carrying out fewer random campaigns and instead executing more targeted operations that inflict heavier damage per incident.

Attack patterns have become more concentrated

Breaking down the first-half figures, CertiK reported that phishing remained the leading cause of crypto theft during the first quarter, resulting in losses of $508.2 million. During the second quarter, however, wallet compromises overtook phishing as the largest attack method, accounting for $807.5 million in stolen assets.

A significant share of those losses came from just two major incidents. CertiK said more than 70% of the second-quarter total stemmed from attacks targeting KelpDAO and Drift Protocol, both of which are believed to have been carried out by North Korean state-sponsored hackers.

While total losses appear lower, CertiK said the industry is facing a structurally higher rate of attack activity than a year earlier. Excluding the exceptional Bybit hack from 2025, the firm concluded that individual attacks are becoming more financially damaging and increasingly focused on high-value targets instead of opportunistic exploits.

Separate findings from blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs support that assessment. In its H1 2026 report released on Wednesday, TRM Labs said the decline in the total value stolen should not be interpreted as evidence that attackers have become less capable. According to the firm, the lower figure is largely the result of there being no record-breaking theft comparable to the Bybit incident during the reporting period.

TRM Labs also found that the number of crypto-related security incidents rose sharply from 83 in the first half of last year to 207 in H1 2026, the highest six-month total the company has recorded. Its analysis further showed that smart contract exploits accounted for 125 incidents, representing roughly 60% of all recorded attacks.

Private key security remains the main defense

Alongside its assessment of attack trends, CertiK identified private key management and multisignature wallet controls as the most critical areas requiring stronger protection. The firm recommended that crypto protocols and institutions securing substantial onchain assets strengthen every layer of key management, including hardware security, multisignature governance and geographic distribution of wallet signers.

CertiK said investments in these controls can produce disproportionately strong security benefits because they directly reduce the impact of attacks targeting sensitive wallet infrastructure.

Attention has also turned to the growing role of North Korean cyber operations. According to TRM Labs, North Korean hackers have stolen more than $6 billion worth of cryptocurrency since 2017. The recent attacks linked to KelpDAO and Drift Protocol prompted officials from the United States, Japan and South Korea to meet late last month to discuss ways to curb North Korea’s cyber activity and the illicit revenue generated through crypto theft.

During those discussions, government representatives acknowledged that North Korean IT workers are increasingly using artificial intelligence to improve the scale, speed and sophistication of cyber operations. Several cybersecurity leaders have separately warned that AI-assisted techniques are making protocol exploits harder to detect and defend against.

Meanwhile, hardware wallet maker Ledger has continued to advise crypto users to keep recovery seed phrases offline and never disclose them, describing those practices as basic but essential safeguards against phishing attacks and unauthorized wallet access.

Key takeaways:

• Bitcoin derivatives show resilience despite bearish pressure from Strategy’s Bitcoin sales.
• Onchain Bitcoin data points to sellers’ exhaustion, strengthening the $60,000 support level.

Bitcoin price quickly recovered from the selloff to $61,300 that followed Strategy’s Bitcoin sale announcement. Despite the negative impact on traders’ sentiment, the additional $216 million cash position eased concerns about the company’s ability to pay dividends and cover its debt. Does the quick recovery suggest that Bitcoin bulls back in control?

Bitcoin perpetual futures annualized funding rate. Source: Laevitas

The Bitcoin perpetual futures annualized funding rate jumped to 9% on Monday, indicating balanced demand between bullish and bearish leverage. While far from displaying conviction, the indicator distanced itself from the bearish momentum on Saturday marked by negative funding rates. But unlike the futures markets, Bitcoin options signaled minor stress on Monday.

Bitcoin options premium put-to-call ratio at Deribit. Source: Laevitas

The put (sell) options premium at Deribit outpaced the equivalent call (buy) instruments on Monday, reverting the trend from Thursday and Friday. Typically, periods of stress can easily push the indicator above 2 times, hence the current 1.15 level remains under the neutral range. Bitcoin futures and options displayed resilience, although the bounce to $63,500 was unable to instill bullishness.

Bitcoin ETF flows reversal and long-term holders conviction favor $65,000 rally

Bitcoin bears might have underestimated the relevance of the $223 million net inflows into US-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on Friday, the first after 10 consecutive outflows. The record-high $4.51 billion net outflows in June negatively impacted trader sentiment.

Still, the sell pressure will eventually subside, and the potential reversal in ETF flows could be enough to instill bullishness in Bitcoin derivatives markets.

US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs daily net flows, USD. Source: SoSoValue

Part of the recent bearishness can be pinned to the record drawdown in Strategy preferred perpetual equity Stretch (STRC US), which offers holders an attractive 12% yield. However, new stock issuance can occur only at the fixed $100 price; hence, the company currently has fewer instruments available to support the dividend payout.

Strategy holds sufficient cash reserves to cover 17 months of dividends; thus, the urgency of additional Bitcoin sales is debatable.

Strategy preferred perpetual equity Stretch (STRC US). Source: TradingView

Regardless of Strategy’s extremely low 8% debt leverage, Bitcoin bears have the upper hand as the company endures $8 billion in unrealized losses from its Bitcoin purchases. Bitcoin bulls’ biggest hopes rely on long-term holders’ conviction and onchain data pointing to selling exhaustion, strengthening the $60,000 support level.

Bitcoin transfers from long-term holders to exchanges, BTC. Source: Glassnode

Transfers from long-term holders to exchanges are down to 4,130 BTC per day on average, from 8,040 BTC one week prior. Nonetheless, unless the spot Bitcoin ETFs exhibit a sequence of relevant net inflows, derivatives traders will likely remain skeptical of sustained bullish momentum, reducing the odds of a sustained rally above $65,000.

Presently, Strategy’s huge unrealized losses and skepticism in Bitcoin derivatives point to further pressure from bears.