Market Makers Profit from Bitcoin Rally Without Directional Risk
Bitcoin (BTC)
Editor:
Eugene Serbin
nosmokesport.com reports that major crypto market makers are generating yields from Bitcoin’s surge past $77,000 without taking directional bets. Firms including Abraxas Capital, Fasanara Capital, and Wintermute are utilizing a cash-and-carry strategy to capture elevated funding rates. This delta-neutral approach involves holding spot cryptocurrency while maintaining equivalent short positions in perpetual futures.
The strategy shields traders from price volatility while allowing them to collect income from long position holders in bullish markets. Bitcoin rallied from approximately $62,000 to over $77,000 in a few days, driven by US Treasury bond-buyback expansions and a White House summit supporting the CLARITY Act. This price action triggered over $1.6 billion in short liquidations within 24 hours, with more than $800 million wiped out in a single hour.
These firms hold substantial short exposure on Hyperliquid, including 138,569 ETH valued at $338 million and 3,425 BTC worth $265 million. To balance these positions, Abraxas Capital withdrew 73,872 ETH, worth $173 million, from Binance over four days. Funding rates remained positive, with Bitcoin rates hovering around 0.01% per 8 hours and aggregating to approximately 0.0109% per hour. This structure provides a consistent, low-risk revenue stream that contributes to market stability and liquidity.
How the market reacted
Whalio's own Binance spot order flow for BTC, measured when this story was written up on 30 August 2026. Not the outlet's figures.
Bitcoin is trading at $78,230.00 with a 24-hour buy ratio of 51.2%, indicating that buyers have slightly outpaced sellers over the full day. However, shorter-term data shows a shift, with the 1-hour buy ratio dropping to 45.6% and the 4-hour ratio at 48.9%, suggesting that immediate buying pressure is fading relative to the daily average. The 24-hour volume delta is positive at $13,484,363, but the 1-hour delta is negative at -$3,813,786, highlighting a recent reversal in flow direction. The volume delta measures the difference between buy and sell volume, so a negative delta indicates that sellers are currently dominating the immediate order flow. Despite the daily net buying, the intraday metrics show that aggressive buying has slowed in the last hour.
The latest daily buy ratio of 46.7% sits at the 18th percentile of the last 322 days, against a median of 49.2% - weaker buying than most days.
Twenty-four hours later
What BTC did over the 23 hours after the story broke. The market moves for its own reasons; this is what happened, not what the story caused.
Was that an ordinary day?
The same Binance spot measurements for BTC, averaged over the days leading up to the story.
Over the preceding week, the average buy ratio was 49.6%, making today’s 51.2% reading slightly above the weekly norm by 1.6 percentage points. Volume activity has been subdued, with current volume at 0.35 times the weekly average, indicating lower participation than usual. The weekly volume delta totals -$63,674,163, contrasting with the positive 24-hour delta, which suggests that recent buying has not been enough to offset the broader week’s selling pressure. Bitcoin price changed only 1.5% over eight days, reflecting a period of relative stability compared to the recent surge. This day is unusual for its volume contraction, as trading activity is significantly below the weekly average despite the slight edge in buy ratio.