Bitcoin’s derivatives market is showing signs of a reset after a speculative 
2025, with Binance open interest falling more than 31% from an October peak as 
futures-led selling pressure cools, a combination CryptoQuant contributor 
Darkfost argues often coincides with meaningful cycle lows. In a series of 
posts on X, Darkfost said 2025’s leverage build-up was fueled by record 
activity on Binance, where futures trading volumes “exceeded $25T,” helping 
push Bitcoin open interest (OI) to an all-time high “of over $15B on October 
6.” “To put this into perspective, during the previous bull cycle in November 
2021, when Bitcoin hit its ATH, open interest on Binance peaked at $5.7B,” 
Darkfost wrote. “In other words, OI nearly tripled in 2025. Since that peak, 
open interest has dropped by more than 31%, stabilizing today around $10B.” 
Darkfost framed the move as a deleveraging phase that intensified amid 
“massive liquidations,” with OI slipping below its 180-day moving average, a 
condition the analyst says has historically mattered more than the raw level 
of leverage. “These deleveraging periods are crucial, as they help purge the 
excess leverage built up in the market,” Darkfost wrote. “Historically, they 
have often marked significant bottoms, effectively resetting the market and 
creating a stronger base for a potential bullish recovery.” Related Reading: 
Bitcoin Could Be Entering A Supercycle, Fidelity Warns The logic is 
straightforward: when leverage is forced out, the market can become less 
vulnerable to cascade-style liquidations and reflexive selling. In that sense, 
a lower OI environment can reduce the marginal impact of futures positioning 
on spot, at least compared with the late-stage “crowded trade” conditions that 
precede sharp drawdowns. But Darkfost warned that a deleveraging signal is not 
the same thing as a confirmed bottom. “This could be the case again, but 
caution is warranted,” the analyst wrote, adding that if Bitcoin “continues to 
slide and fully enters a bear market,” OI could “contract further,” pointing 
to “deeper deleveraging and a potential extension of the correction.” Bitcoin 
Sellers Are Losing Momentum Alongside the open interest reset, Darkfost 
pointed to a sharp drop in futures-driven selling pressure, using Net Taker 
Volume — a measure intended to capture who is dominating futures order books. 
Related Reading: Bitcoin HODLer Selloff Ending? LTH Outflows Decline “Selling 
pressure on BTC coming from the futures market is sharply declining,” Darkfost 
wrote, noting that after the monthly average hit “–$489M” at its peak, the 
figure has now been “divided by ten.” “At the moment, sellers still slightly 
dominate the order books, with –$51M,” the analyst added. The key nuance is 
that the indicator has not flipped, but it is moving in that direction. “We 
have not yet returned to positive territory, but we are getting closer,” 
Darkfost wrote. “It is very encouraging to see traders starting to change 
their approach, especially given the significant impact futures volumes have 
on price action. Notably, since this decline in selling pressure began, BTC 
price action has also stabilized.” For the “bottom thesis” to graduate into a 
more forceful reversal call, Darkfost anchored the trigger to that sign 
change: “If Net Taker Volume were to turn positive again, it would clearly 
ignite the fuse for a bullish reversal.” At press time, BTC traded at $95,131. 
Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com

Bitcoin Futures Flush 31% Of Open Interest As Bottom Thesis Takes Shape

Silver’s sharp rally is reshaping metals trading as CME Group moves to capture 
surging retail demand with a smaller futures contract, signaling intensifying 
momentum, volatility, and investor interest across the silver market. Retail 
Traders Are Flooding Into Silver — CME’s New Contract Makes It Easier Than 
Ever A surge in silver prices is drawing heightened […]

Silver Gets a Major Upgrade: CME to Launch New Futures as Retail Demand Hits Record Levels

Despite a fix from Sui core developers, the Sui Foundation has not provided 
details on what triggered the network outage.

Sui back online after 6-hour outage that halted transactions

Despite its slow momentum over the past few weeks, XRP is still on analysts’ 
radar as they look beyond its dollar price action and into its performance 
against gold. One analyst has said that the long-term XRP/Gold ratio has just 
reached a historical support zone, signaling a familiar technical setup that 
could determine its next move. XRP/Gold Ratio Arrives At Critical Support 
Level Market expert ‘Steph is Crypto’ has released a fresh analysis focusing 
on the XRP to gold ratio and its historical behaviour. In his post on X this 
Tuesday, he stated that the ratio has returned to a long-standing support zone 
around $0.0004, which has consistently marked major turning points in XRP’s 
price action relative to gold. Related Reading: Top Bullish Predictions That 
Put XRP Price At New All-Time Highs Above $3.8 According to the analyst, this 
same area previously preceded powerful upside moves in the XRP/gold ratio. 
Each prior visit to this zone was followed by a sharp reversal higher, as 
highlighted by the circled lows and steep advances that followed. The chart 
shows rallies of more than 800% in 2020, over 120% in 2022, and about 530% in 
2024. Steph is Crypto also pointed to momentum conditions, noting that the 
Relative Strength Index (RSI) was oversold in the past when the XRP/gold ratio 
hit the historical support. In the current 2026 cycle, the RSI sits around 
33.38, reflecting a similar oversold setup to previous cycles. According to 
the analyst, this suggests downside momentum is fading. The general outlook of 
this analysis suggests that if past trends repeat, the XRP/gold ratio could 
experience another strong rally this cycle. This time, Steph is Crypto 
predicts a rally from the support around $0.0004 to over $0.0018, representing 
a gain of more than 350%. Analyst Links XRP Trajectory To That Of Gold And 
Silver In a subsequent post, Steph is Crypto shared another analysis comparing 
the historical price movements and expansion phase of gold and silver with 
XRP. He presented parallel charts for each asset, highlighting distinct phases 
preceding major price rallies in the precious metals while illustrating the 
potential path for XRP based on gold and silver’s past performance. Related 
Reading: Analyst Outlines The Bull Case For XRP And Why Price Will Hit All- 
Time High Soon The chart showed that gold and silver experienced a major 
distribution phase in 2021, followed by a compression phase in 2023 and an 
expansion in 2026. In Gold’s case, its price reversal was sharp and vertical, 
with minimal pullbacks before reaching an all-time high near $4,700. Silver’s 
movement was more muted, showing significant volatility from 2023 to 2025 
before accelerating in 2026 to peak above $91. Based on these performances, 
Steph is Crypto predicts that XRP could follow a similar trajectory. The 
cryptocurrency has completed its distribution phase above $3 and its 
compression stage near $2.3, and the analyst now expects it to enter an 
expansion phase, with a projected ATH target of $32. Featured image from 
Freepik, chart from Tradingview.com

XRP/Gold Ratio Just Reached A Historical Support Zone, What This Means For Price

The Zcash Foundation said Jan. 14, 2026, that the U.S. Securities and Exchange 
Commission (SEC) has concluded its investigation into the nonprofit without 
recommending any enforcement action. Zcash Foundation Announces Resolution of 
SEC Investigation The inquiry stemmed from a subpoena issued to the foundation 
on Aug. 31, 2023, under an SEC matter titled “In the […]

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