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Bitcoin retreats below $80,000, liquidating $300 million in futures bets
BTC fell under $80,000 after U.S. strikes in Iran sent oil briefly above $100, triggering liquidations and a shift toward bearish positioning.
May 8, 2026, 10:21 a.m. 3 min read
What to know:
- Bitcoin dropped below $80,000 after fresh U.S. airstrikes in Iran sparked a surge in oil prices and a broader risk-off move across crypto markets.
- Crypto traders unwound leverage aggressively, with futures open interest falling 1.5%, nearly $300 million in liquidations, and options flow shifting toward protective BTC puts.
- Despite weakness in majors and memecoins, DeFi tokens outperformed as ONDO jumped over 8% following a cross-border U.S. Treasury redemption involving JPMorgan, Mastercard and Ripple.
Ether (ETH) is trading at $2,280 having lost 0.2% since midnight UTC and around 2% over the past 24 hours, with other altcoins like monero (XMR) and dash (DASH) losing between 4% and 5%.
The broader crypto recovery remains intact with bitcoin having rallied from $65,000 in late March, although it’s worth noting that a drop below $75,000 would negate the recent string of higher lows and would signal a reversion to the pervious trading range.
Derivatives positioning
- The crypto futures market has cooled for the second-straight day, with cumulative industry notional open interest down over 1.5% at $131.5 billion and trading volume down over 12% at $191 billion. Investors are clearly deleveraging in the wake of bitcoin’s overnight drop below $80,000.
- Exchanges have liquidated nearly $300 million in bets in 24 hours, with longs accounting for most of the tally. It shows that traders were positioned for continued price rises into the weekend, only to take the brunt of the unexpected market weakness.
- Open interest (OI) has declined in most major tokens, including bitcoin and ether. Meme token DOGE’s OI has dropped by over 4%, the most among top 10 coins. TON is the standout, with OI rising by 6%.
- For the second straight day, OI-adjusted cumulative volume delta for most majors remains negative, a sign of traders aggressively shorting using market orders rather than passive limit orders.
- On Deribit, the most actively traded contract over the past 24 hours was a BTC $105,000 call option expiring June 26. Market positioning has also shifted, with the top five most traded contracts now including put options at $80,000, $75,000, and $60,000 strikes. This marks a clear change from the previous three sessions, when calls dominated trading activity.
- Bitcoin’s annualized 30-day implied volatility index, BVIV, remains near 40%, the lowest since late January, a sign of market calm ahead of the pivotal U.S. nonfarm payrolls report.
