Bitcoin (BTC) hit a record high above $124,000, and momentum has since eased off. Analysts said profit-taking by long-term holders has been capping gains above $120,000 since mid-July. The bull market remains concentrated at the top, as evident from the CoinDesk 20 (CD20) Index, which has risen over 1% in 24 hours. The CoinDesk 80 (CD80), a gauge of smaller tokens, has dropped more than 1%. "Bitcoin’s breakout beyond $124,000 has been particularly telling, a show of technical strength that reinforces its role as the market anchor, even as capital rotates into Ethereum and select altcoins," Vugar Usi Zade, COO of Bitget said in an email. "Whether this marks the opening chapter of a multi-quarter bull market expansion or the crest before a consolidation phase will depend on how well the market absorbs its own momentum." Derivatives Positioning ADA and SOL have seen the largest increases in futures open interest among the top 10 tokens in the past 24 hours. Even though BTC rose to record highs above $124K, positioning in futures remains relatively light. Open interest is currently at 687K BTC, well below the July peak of 742K BTC. Meanwhile, on the CME, the three-month annualized premium in BTC futures remains below 10%. The 24-hour open interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta for most tokens except TRX is negative, implying seller dominance. This raises a question over the sustainability of price gains. The markets for FART and FLR appear overheated, with annualized perpetual funding rates exceeding 100%, a sign of overcrowding in bullish long bets. Such a scenario can lead to a long squeeze, resulting in a sharp price slide. On Deribit, August and September expiry BTC options are exhibiting only a slight call bias. That's likely due to persistent OTM call selling by long-term holders and indicates that the rally has yet to trigger a speculative frenzy. Meanwhile, call bias is more pronounced in ether options across all time frames. Flows over the OTC network Paradigm featured demand for BTC calls and short call spreads in ETH December expiry options. Token Talk SHIB’s burn rate exploded 48,244% in the past 24 hours, with nearly 88 million tokens permanently removed from supply. “Burning” means sending coins to a wallet no one can access, taking them out of circulation forever. The biggest single burn was 69,420 tokens in one hour, part of a series of transactions tracked by Shibburn, a community-run monitoring site. Prices are holding firm above the $0.000010 support level, which traders see as a key floor for keeping bullish momentum intact. If buying pressure continues, analysts say SHIB could attempt a move toward $0.000020, double the current price. Activity on Shibarium, SHIB’s layer-2 blockchain, remains robust, clocking 1.51 billion total transactions and about 4.69 million daily. Burn-driven supply cuts can, in theory, make each remaining token more valuable, but sustained price gains depend on demand matching or outpacing the shrinking supply
