Bitcoin grinds from $77K to $82K as on-chain activity surges — but options markets are still pricing elevated risk!

Bitcoin spent Week 20 grinding higher from the high-$77Ks into the low-$82Ks, with buyers consistently absorbing pullbacks even as price momentum began to cool near local highs. Spot CVD surged alongside rising spot volume, signalling genuine investor participation rather than thin-air price action — a meaningful distinction at this stage of the recovery.

Futures markets told a similar story: Open Interest climbed and Perpetual CVD surged, reflecting heightened speculative appetite. The one wrinkle is a decline in Long-Side Funding Payments, hinting that short-side interest is quietly building beneath the bullish surface.

On-chain fundamentals strengthened across the board — Daily Active Addresses, Entity-Adjusted Transfer Volume, and Total Fee Volume all rose, pointing to a more engaged network. Profitability metrics have also flipped back into positive territory, though Percent…