BTC surges 0.93% in 15 minutes: Deleveraging leads to short sellers exiting and spot buying support driving a short-term rebound

From 15:15 to 15:30 (UTC) on April 20, 2026, BTC’s return within 15 minutes reached +0.93%. The price was lifted from 75,038.4 USDT to 75,771.0 USDT, with an amplitude of 0.98%. Although market volatility remained limited, the price strengthened rapidly in the short term, drawing attention.

The main driving force behind this abnormal move is deleveraging in the derivatives market and the exit of short positions. On April 19, BTC’s open interest (OI) for the entire market was $24 billion, with a 7-day change of -2.4% and a funding rate of -0.2315%, indicating that shorts dominated and leveraged capital continued to flow out. A negative funding rate means that short sellers must pay long holders the holding cost, and bearish sentiment has the upper hand in the market. The decline in OI shows that some leveraged funds have actively or passively left, tightening risk exposure and providing room for spot buying, which triggered a short-term price rebound.

In addition, multiple factors formed a resonance effect. Chain on-chain data shows that large inflows into exchanges are still staying at a high level; the share of whale deposits exceeds 40%. Although some of this is internal exchange fund aggregation, overall it shows a net selling tendency. The large-holding account has fallen from about 3.2 million BTC since 2026 to 2.9 million BTC, and then slightly rebounded to 3.1 million BTC, increasing distribution pressure. In the options market, the put/call premium ratio is as high as 11.04, indicating that the market has strong defensive demand against downside risk. At the same time, a certain trading platform launched a large-scale event contract campaign on April 20, with total rewards of 150,000 USDT, covering intraday predictions and trading volume competitions, which boosted market activity in the short term and amplified the price volatility range. Meanwhile, there are no obvious disruptions on the macro front.

The current market is still in a deleveraging phase. With large-holding accounts concentrating inflows combined with strong protective demand in the options market, it suggests that there may still be volatility risks ahead. Keep an eye on the chain-based flow of funds and the exchange inflow/outflow structure near the key resistance level around $76,800, and be alert to a chain reaction triggered by distribution pressure and passive short liquidations.