Pressure continues to mount across the digital asset landscape, with broad-based sell-offs hitting major assets. Derivatives activity, in particular, continues to accelerate, leaving the market increasingly sensitive and reflexive in its structure.

Executive Summary
- Capital inflows into Bitcoin continue to decline, even as a new ATH of $124.4k forms, highlighting weaker investor demand.
- Altcoin open interest hit an ATH of $60B, but quickly fell by -$2.6B, marking the 10th largest drop on record.
- Ethereum’s open interest dominance is at its 4th highest level, while perpetual futures volume dominance reached a new ATH of 67%.
- In prior cycles (2015–2018, 2018–2022), ATHs were reached 2–3 months later than where we are in the current cycle.

Read more in The Week On-Chain newsletter.

The market is showing signs of contraction following significant profit-taking from investors holding for over 1 month (excluding daily traders).

Let’s look at when and how much profit was realized (30D-EMA) across the top 5 assets:

Bitcoin (BTC)
On July 18, >1-month BTC holders realized over $1.5B in profit, marking the largest profit-taking spike since December 2024.

Ethereum (ETH)
On August 16, realized profit peaked at $575M, the largest profit-taking spike of this cycle so far. A clear sign of longer-term ETH holders taking risk off the table.

Solana (SOL)
On August 17, >1-month holders realized over $105Min profit, the biggest profit event since the early 2025 surge.

XRP
On July 24, profit-taking by longer-term holders spiked to $375M, suggesting strong distribution similar to December 2024 rally.

TRON (TRX)
August 6 saw a profit realization peak of $230M, highest in Tron’s history, reflecting broader sell pressure across altcoins.

Premiums confirm the tilt: call premium paid ~$82M (Aug 8) and still ~$31.5M (Aug 11), consistently outpacing puts. Traders are paying up for upside convexity as ETH presses higher.

In options, ETH OI has climbed to a YTD high ~$16.1B, alongside spot around $4.6k. Elevated open interest signals strong demand for optionality around the breakout.

Shorts are feeling it: ~$66M in short liquidations on Aug 12 with price near $4.62k. This is the second largest shorts liquidation event this year-to-date.

ETH futures open interest printed a new ATH around $35.5B as spot pushed to ~$4.59k. Leverage has rebuilt across venues, setting the stage for larger moves as positioning concentrates.