The post Bitcoin Leverage Heats Up as Traders Bet on Price Rebound appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

In brief Bitcoin’s three-month futures basis has ticked up, suggesting increased derivatives activity. Coinbase CEO says retail users are “buying the dip” with resilient balances Retail typically enters late and suffers most on unwinds, Decrypt was told. Traders are once again cranking up leverage, even as Bitcoin extends its sideways trend and broader crypto market risks persist. The top crypto has continued to trade between $62,000 and $71,000 since February 6, with no meaningful breakout attempts. Still, investors are piling in, increasing leverage, and hoping for a breakout rally. “The increase in retail activity signals growing speculation and leverage buildup that frequently comes before volatile crypto movements,” Nick Ruck, Director of LVRG Research, told Decrypt.  The annualized three-month futures basis on major centralized exchanges such as Binance, OKX, and Deribit has widened from approximately 1.5% to 4% since February 13, per Velo data. The metric measures the gap between the derivatives and spot price. An increased gap suggests futures are trading above spot prices, signalling speculative appetite is returning to the market and traders are increasingly willing to pay a premium for long exposure. That’s backed by aggregated funding rates rising after February 13, indicating long-position speculators are becoming more dominant. Both metrics reveal a shift that points to a market gradually regaining its risk-on footing after weeks of uncertainty. “Retail users on Coinbase have been very resilient during these market conditions,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong tweeted Sunday. He added that investors have been “buying the dip” with a “vast majority of customers” seeing their “native unit balances in February equal to or greater than their balances in December.” Options markets tell a similar story, but hint at a more cautious slant. The 25 Delta skew—a measure of demand for puts versus calls—has waned steadily since February 13, moving…

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Filed under: News - @ February 16, 2026 4:26 am