Sure, crypto today might look like your homie who passed out 10 minutes into movie night but swears they were just ‘resting their eyes’.
But don’t be fooled – traders are wide awake, and they have their risk mode activated.
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One of the clearest signs of this risk appetite is what’s happening in the futures market.
Futures trading lets people bet on where prices will go, often using leverage.
The upside? Bigger potential profits.
The downside? Much higher risk.
Even a small price move in the wrong direction can wipe out positions and cause liquidations, where traders are forced to exit at a loss.
And right now, a lot of money is tied up in these trades.
According to QCP, the total value of perpetual futures (aka futures with no expiration date) has hit its highest point this year:
👉 $45B in Bitcoin;
👉 $28B in Ethereum.
Translation: traders are feeling hella bold.
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That growing risk appetite can also be seen within the futures market itself:
👉 Bitfinex says that Bitcoin’s share of total futures positions has dropped from 51% to 41%;
👉 Meanwhile, Ethereum’s share has increased from 17% to 26%.
This tells us that traders are rotating away from the more stable BTC and into ETH, which tends to be more volatile, and therefore more appealing when people are chasing short-term profits.
This makes the market more fragile.
And that’s not all: funding rates (basically the fee you pay to hold a long position) are now above 15% on major exchanges.
That’s extremely high.
It means a ton of people are making bullish bets, and they’re willing to pay a lot just to stay in those trades.
When this happens, the market tends to flip the other way.
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QCP notes that some bigger players are already de-risking – taking profits or hedging just in case things turn.
And while ETH at $4K and BTC at $120K are still within reach, many traders now see those levels as likely points of profit-taking, not guaranteed breakouts.
So momentum is driving things higher – but with that comes fragility.
If something shakes confidence, like a surprise headline or weak economic data, the reaction could be fast and messy.
And with this week’s loaded calendar, there’s plenty that can shake things up:
🗓️ Wednesday: FOMC meeting + US digital asset stockpile report;
🗓️ Thursday: June PCE inflation data;
🗓️ Friday: July jobs report + Trump’s tariff deadline.
TL;DR: confidence is high for now, but be ready for volatility.
