Analysis: Bitcoin Sell-Off Returns, Short-Term Selling Pressure at Its Strongest Since December 23

April 3: Spot Brent crude — the North Sea’s physical oil delivery benchmark — topped $140 per barrel, hitting its highest level since 2008. Per S&P Global Platts, North Sea-delivery Brent crude reached $141.37/bbl, marking the highest price since 2008. The Strait of Hormuz has been closed for over a month, triggering the largest oil supply disruption in market history, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The strait handles roughly one-fifth of global oil shipments, and refineries have been scrambling for available supplies in recent weeks. Spot Brent was just below $128/bbl one day earlier, and current prices now surpass the peak seen during the 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict. While benchmark Brent crude futures remain below that peak, spot Brent reflects the price of oil traded over a shorter time horizon. (FXStreet)

April 3rd According to The Block, decentralized perpetual contract platform Hyperliquid is gaining market share from centralized exchanges. In March, its share of total perpetual contract trading volume rose to nearly 6%—up sharply from ~3.5% a year ago—with monthly volume approaching $200 billion. Notably, this growth comes amid an overall decline in exchange trading volumes since the August 2025 peak, meaning Hyperliquid is actually capturing share rather than just riding a broader market surge. Among on-chain rivals, dYdX and GMX have failed to match Hyperliquid’s volume growth or product expansion, with the platform now clearly leading the decentralized perpetual contract space. A key structural driver behind the trend is Hyperliquid’s expansion into non-crypto assets. Commodities like oil are now tradable 24/7 on the platform, and non-crypto asset trading volume’s share of total activity is steadily rising. This underscores decentralized platforms’ structural edge over

ForexLive: On April 3, U.S. President Donald Trump said, "Iran is coming to the table—and they will have to."

As of April 3rd, monitoring data from HyperInsight (via its Telegram channel @HyperInsight) indicates that the entity "Buddy" has increased its ETH long position to 6,860 coins—valued at approximately $14.15 million. The position currently carries an unrealized loss of $70,000, with an opening price of $2,075.11 and a liquidation price of $1,981.13.

On April 3rd, Circle announced the launch of wrapped Bitcoin (cirBTC)—a token backed one-for-one by Bitcoin that’s easily verifiable on-chain, with the goal of seamless integration into Circle’s infrastructure and the broader DeFi ecosystem.

April 2nd — Bitcoin trades at $66,450 as of press time, 47% below its $126,000 all-time high set in October 2025, leaving HODLers facing steep unrealized losses. Per Glassnode data, ~8.8 million BTC are currently in a loss position, translating to ~$598.7 billion in unrealized losses—over 44% of Bitcoin’s circulating supply. The firm notes this loss scale is structurally similar to Q2 2022: “Historically, resolving this level of supply excess requires loss-making holders to shift BTC to new buyers entering at lower prices.” Long-term holders (holding >155 days) are realizing $200 million in losses daily—Glassnode calls this “confirmation of active stop-loss selling.” A meaningful drop below $25 million/day would signal selling pressure exhaustion, a historical prerequisite for a bottom preceding a bull market transition, the firm adds. Bitcoin’s spot price also sits below the $83,408 average cost basis for U.S. spot ETF holders, ramping up pressure on these investors. As of th