Daily crypto liquidations have nearly tripled this cycle, with rising open interest and heightened exchange activity contributing to a more heavily leveraged market.
A new report from Glassnode and Fasanara shows that average daily futures liquidations have jumped from roughly $28 million in long positions and $15 million in shorts in the previous cycle to $68 million long and $45 million short this cycle.
The trend was most visible during the Oct. 10 market reset — dubbed “Early Black Friday” by researchers — when more than $640 million per hour in long positions were wiped out as Bitcoin plunged from $121,000 to $102,000. Open interest fell 22% in less than 12 hours, dropping from $49.5 billion to $38.8 billion, marking one of the steepest deleveraging events in Bitcoin’s history.
Futures activity has expanded sharply as well, with open interest reaching a record $67.9 billion. Trading volumes have also surged, climbing to $68.9 billion in daily futures turnover in mid-October, with perpetual contracts accounting for more than 90% of all activity.
Bitcoin spot volume doubles
Bitcoin’s spot trading volume has doubled compared with the previous cycle, rising into a daily range of $8 billion to $22 billion, according to Glassnode. During the Oct. 10 crash, hourly spot volume surged to $7.3 billion—more than triple recent peaks—as traders stepped in to buy the dip rather than exit the market.
The report noted that since the launch of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs in early 2024, price discovery has increasingly shifted to the cash market, while leverage has concentrated in futures. This dynamic has funneled capital toward major assets, boosting Bitcoin’s market dominance from 38.7% in late 2022 to 58.3% today.
Capital flows reflect a similar trend. Monthly inflows into Bitcoin have ranged between $40 billion and $190 billion, driving its realized capitalization to a record $1.1 trillion. Since the 2022 cycle low, more than $732 billion has entered the network—exceeding the combined inflows of all prior cycles.
“This highlights a more institutionally anchored and structurally mature market environment,” Glassnode said.
Bitcoin rivals Visa as a settlement network
The report also emphasized Bitcoin’s growing role as a settlement rail, noting that over the past 90 days the network processed $6.9 trillion in transfers—outpacing the volumes handled by Visa and Mastercard during the same period.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s supply continues shifting from retail trading venues toward institutional holders. Glassnode estimates that about 6.7 million BTC is now held across ETFs, corporate balance sheets, and both centralized and decentralized treasuries. Since early 2024, spot ETFs alone have absorbed roughly 1.5 million BTC, while exchange-held balances have continued to decline.
