Bitcoin’s Taker Tale: A Brysonesque Bear Market Tour

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If you’ve ever tried to explain Bitcoin to someone who thinks a blockchain is a fancy toaster, you’ll know the vibe here: a market that acts like a temperamental railway timetable, except the timetable keeps sprinting off into the red. Data from Binance shows the Bitcoin Net Taker Volume has slid into one of its grumpier moods in recent years as the price takes a nosedive.

In which the Net Taker Volume dives into the red

CryptoQuant’s resident observer-in-chief, Maartunn, posted on X that the Bitcoin Net Taker Volume has picked up a distinctly bearish flutter on Binance. The Net Taker Volume is basically the net amount of taker buy or sell volume in a futures market-think of it as a mood ring for traders who like their futures spicy rather than mild.

When the value sits above zero, taker buy volume beats taker sell volume, implying a broadly bullish crowd. When it slips below zero, the crowd leans bearish, and the exchange feels like a crowded elevator with the brakes squealing.

Here’s the chart Maartunn shared, showing the 7-hour moving average (MA) of Bitcoin Net Taker Volume on Binance over the past couple of years:

Bitcoin Net Taker Volume chart showing a recent drop into negative territory

As the graph demonstrates, the Net Taker Volume has tumbled into negative territory recently, a sign, if you squint, of a spike in bearish positioning. The red line spikes in harmony with a rapid drawdown that whisked the price below $80,000.

“This is the 3rd largest Sell Taker Volume Dominance in the last 2 years,” notes the analyst. The two larger spikes occurred in October, when the asset’s price cratered after its all‑time high (ATH) above $126,000.

Historically, Bitcoin often has a knack for moving contrary to the crowd’s expectations. So we wait to see which way the coin will shuffle next, given this chorus of short-term sentiment. “At some point, the best risk-reward flips long,” Maartunn says. “We’re getting close.”

Meanwhile, the digital asset derivatives world has been a touch chaotic as BTC and friends zigzag. CoinGlass data shows derivatives platforms handled more than $783 million in liquidations over the last 24 hours, with $484 million of those contracts being long positions.

Derivatives liquidation table

$300 million of the liquidations still involved bearish bets as Bitcoin and others showed a belated attempt at a rebound.

BTC Price

Bitcoin briefly dipped below $75,000 on Sunday, but has since clawed its way back to around $78,900.

BTC price snapshot

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2026-02-03 12:09