Bitcoin traded at $76,600 on Tuesday, down 0.8% since midnight UTC, after a brief bounce to $77,800 faded. The price has dropped 7% over two weeks and may confirm another lower high in a bearish structure dating back to October. This weakness contrasts with S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures gaining over 0.5%, pointing to crypto-specific headwinds. Ethereum (ETH) fared worse, shedding over 10% in two weeks to $2,098, stuck in a range from February to April. AI-linked tokens bucked the trend, with the CoinDesk Computing Select Index up 1.9%, led by RENDER (+7.2%) and FET (+4.8%). The DeFi Select Index gained 1.3%. Privacy tokens like ZEC, XMR, and DASH fell up to 7%. Derivatives activity shows selective positioning: NEAR's open interest hit a record 309 million tokens, up 70% in a week, with funding rates marginally positive. LINK's OI reached a four-month high of 42.96 million tokens. Bitcoin futures OI cooled to 711K BTC from 793K earlier in May, while implied volatility indexes continue to slide, indicating no panic demand for options. However, put options at strikes $70K-$76K were among the most traded on Deribit, suggesting bearish hedging.

Key facts

• Bitcoin down 7% over two weeks, risks confirming another lower high in bearish structure since October.
• AI tokens outperform: RENDER +7.2%, FET +4.8%, CoinDesk Computing Select Index up 1.9%.
• Privacy tokens ZEC, XMR, DASH fall up to 7%.
• NEAR open interest hits record 309M tokens, signaling continued rally momentum.
• Implied volatility indexes slide, but put options at $70K-$76K among most traded on Deribit.

KeyAudit data perspective