Crypto Rally Faces Resistance as Liquidations Spike and Chart Patterns Turn Bearish
Bitcoin climbed 1.4% since midnight UTC on June 22 as easing oil prices and hopes for an Iran-U.S. deal provided a tailwind, though the broader market remains soft and derivatives data signal skepticism about sustained rally continuation.
Ether added 2.4%, while Solana and BNB advanced about 1.5%. XRP lagged with a 0.7% gain. Among altcoins, DEXE jumped 8% and BEAT jumped 5%, but gains were uneven across the top 25 coins.
Bitcoin’s 24-hour volume jumped 30% to $129.9 billion, and open interest held steady around $108 billion. However, liquidations rose 41% to $212 million, with longs accounting for $118.4 million of that total. The spike in forced closures underscores elevated risk positioning across derivatives markets.
Bitcoin is stuck between key support near $60,000 and resistance around $66,000 to $68,000. According to Marx, an analyst, “BTC has clawed back to $64K but nothing behind it. The 200-week SMA near $62.2K held the weekend dips, and that line with the $60K shelf is what separates a base from a deeper leg, while $66K to $68K caps the upside.” Marx added: “We buy near the 200 week and sell into resistance, we do not chase the middle.”
A bearish chart pattern could send Bitcoin prices toward $54,000. Bitcoin’s daily chart is carving out an “ominous bear flag,” and open interest has declined since its June 4 peak of 801K BTC. BTC futures positioning now stands at 722K BTC, reflecting reduced leverage.
Ether open interest shows the same lightening pattern as BTC since the June 4 peak. Among the top 25 coins, only BTC, TRX, and ETH show positive Cumulative Delta Volume (CVD), a metric that tracks whether buyers or sellers are driving price action. The majority of major coins display negative CVD, signaling skepticism about sustained gains.
On Deribit, the options exchange, BTC and ETH puts continue trading at a premium to calls, indicating stronger demand for downside protection. BTC and ETH 30-day implied volatility indexes remain in recent ranges, signaling calm markets despite the price moves.
XRP open interest jumped to 2.35 billion tokens, with funding rates marginally positive at around 4%. Solana’s open interest hit a record high of 72.11 million tokens, pushing SOL positioning to all-time levels even as the broader derivatives market shows signs of caution.
Taiko Bridge Exploit Sends Layer-2 Token Tumbling
Taiko, an Ethereum layer-2 network, halted its chain after an attacker exploited its bridge. The attacker walked away with about 2 million TAIKO tokens, worth roughly $170,000 at the time. Taiko’s protocol said its chain-state verification mechanism was breached. The attacker moved the stolen tokens to MEXC exchange.
Taiko’s token market cap collapsed by nearly 30% to $14 million following the exploit. The incident underscores that cross-chain bridges have emerged as the biggest security risk to DeFi users this year, following April’s KelpDAO hack, which resulted in a $292 million loss.
Exchange volumes also declined. May combined exchange volumes fell 3.45% to $4.41 trillion, reflecting softer trading activity across centralized platforms despite the recent price moves.
