On March 20, Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Asset Research at VanEck, posted on social media that Bitcoin's 30-day average price had fallen by 19%, but spot prices had stabilized. Market volatility had significantly decreased, with realized volatility dropping from 80% to 50%, and futures funding rates falling from 4.1% to 2.7%.
On-chain activity cooled down, with transaction volume decreasing by 31%, daily transaction fees decreasing by 27%, and the distribution speed to long-term holders slowing down. Miners, on the other hand, largely maintained a "mine-and-sell" approach, selling almost all newly issued Bitcoins.
Defensive sentiment in the options market has peaked, with the average put/call open interest ratio at 0.77, a new high since June 2021; the premium of put options relative to spot trading volume has reached a record high of 4 basis points.
