Open interest held steady and funding stayed subdued during the recent liquidation wave, suggesting traders were de-risking rather than capitulating, according to HashKey Research's Tim Sun. May 22, 2026, 5:38 a.m. 2 min readMake preferred on Bitcoin BTC$77,341.59 traded near $77,733 by midday Hong Kong time, according to CoinDesk data, little changed over the past 24 hours, after sliding as low as $76,685 and failing to hold above $78,000 during U.S. trading hours.Derivatives positioning suggested the recent selloff may have been more of a leverage flush than the start of a broader market breakdown. Open interest, a measure of outstanding leveraged futures positions, held relatively steady while funding rates stayed low or negative, a sign that traders were not aggressively piling into bullish bets before the drop."There was no massive accumulation of leveraged longs prior to this, meaning most of those liquidated in this drop were leveraged funds attempting short-term bottom-fishing. Second, this signals that we are not in the middle of a structural trend reversal downward. The temporary bottom of $75,000–$77,000 remains well-defined," Tim Sun, senior researcher at HashKey Group, told CoinDeskThe bigger problem, he said, is macro: investors are de-risking as long-term yields rise, oil and inflation risks remain in focus, and there is “currently no compelling reason for new capital to enter the market.”CoinGlass data showed $200 million in crypto liquidations over the past 24 hours, split almost evenly between long and short positions, suggesting the move was less a one-sided capitulation than a volatile market whipping both directions.Sun pointed to the U.S. 30-year Treasury yield, which recently pushed above 5%, as the more important pressure point. Higher long-term yields tend to weigh on speculative assets by raising the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets like bitcoin while tightening broader financial conditions.The next catalyst may come from geopolitics. Sun said a meaningful de-escalation in U.S.-Iran tensions could cool oil prices and inflation expectations, easing pressure on yields and giving bitcoin room to rebound. But if yields remain elevated and geopolitical risks persist, bitcoin may stay stuck in what he described as a defensive, range-bound market, with the $75,000 to $77,000 zone serving as the key near-term support level.More For YouNear Protocol will introduce dynamic resharding in June, allowing the blockchain to automatically add shards as demand grows without human intervention.What to know: Near Protocol will introduce dynamic resharding in June, allowing the blockchain to automatically add shards as demand grows without human intervention.The upgrade aims to boost scalability for an AI-driven on-chain economy while also adding post-quantum-safe signing to protect users from future quantum-computing threats.NEAR’s token has surged nearly 30%...Read full story