Bitcoin Holds $64K as Chip Stocks Slump, Funding Hits Three-Week High Pre-Fed
BTC decouples from a semiconductor-led equity rout as funding tops 0.0086%, $30.1M in longs get liquidated and Clarity Act odds slide to 30%.
Bitcoin traded around $64,000, up roughly 1% on the day, even as a sharp selloff in semiconductor stocks dragged Asian equity benchmarks and US index futures lower. Derivatives data show leveraged traders did not fully de-risk ahead of the Federal Reserve’s rate decision, with funding rates climbing to their highest level in three weeks.
Chip rout hits Asia, spares crypto
South Korea’s benchmark index fell for a second straight session. SK Hynix shares dropped roughly 17% despite reporting a 557% jump in profit, while Samsung Electronics slid about 12% ahead of its earnings release. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 2%, its lowest mark since mid-April, and Nasdaq 100 futures were down 1% as tech investors trimmed crowded AI-related positions.
Major crypto assets largely shrugged off the move. Ethereum rose about 1% to trade near $1,899, and XRP gained 2% to roughly $1.07. This marks the second time in five sessions that crypto has decoupled from equity weakness, suggesting digital-asset liquidity is not tracking stock markets tick-for-tick during this stretch.
Funding rate signals longs still paying up
BTC dipped below $63,650 during Tuesday’s European session, tagging a 10-day low, before funding rates spiked to 0.0086%, the highest reading since July 17. Positive funding means long position holders are paying shorts — a sign that bullish positioning persisted even through the intraday dip.
Futures data show roughly $30.1 million in long positions were liquidated over 24 hours, accounting for about 60% of total crypto liquidations, though the flush stopped short of a broader deleveraging cascade. Total derivatives volume fell 13.2% to $49.26 billion, while the long-short ratio held near 1.03, indicating only a slight tilt toward longs.
Some of the intraday softness coincided with rotation into Ethereum, which held above $1,900 and offered momentum traders a nearer-term catalyst. Prediction markets are pricing BTC above $64,000 by noon ET on July 31 at roughly 47% odds, and above $62,000 at about 83% — a pattern that points to position repositioning rather than aggressive fresh shorting.
Clarity Act odds slip to 30% as Senate stalls
The Clarity Act, the market-structure bill that would define digital asset oversight, has lost momentum in the Senate. Republicans need 60 votes to advance it, but Majority Leader John Thune has prioritized a Russia-Iran sanctions bill, making a vote before the August 7 recess unlikely. Talks are also entangled with efforts to fill a vacant CFTC commissioner seat.
Prediction markets now price the bill’s odds of passing this year at roughly 30%, down from earlier optimism, though a September path remains open. Separately, an Iranian strike on a US base in Jordan revived oil-market risk, though its read-through to BTC has been more indirect than macro policy drivers.
Levels traders are watching
BTC failed near $67,000 and found buyers around $62,000, a level that marks roughly a 50% retracement of the move from $57,000 to $66,000. Daily RSI sits at 48.4 with a pivot point near $63,586; resistance levels stack at $64,468, $66,333 and $69,328, with support at $63,799, $62,910 and $61,468. Positioning data suggest traders are set up for an FOMC-driven break rather than a structural breakdown, with price action showing no signs of a collapse below all-time highs.
Read more: XRP Funding Flips to 0.00138 as Longs Hold 76% Into a 4.6% Spot Drop