[DigitalToday reporter Jinju Hong (홍진주)] Bitcoin (BTC) has repeatedly fallen ahead of other assets whenever macro risks emerge. The industry analyses this not simply as a characteristic of a risk asset, but as a result of a derivatives-centred market structure.

In this regard, the blockchain media outlet BeInCrypto on March 18 (local time) took a close look at why bitcoin is sold first in unstable market conditions.

The current bitcoin market is structured so that perpetual futures trading, rather than spot, drives price formation. This market has no maturity and allows leveraged trades, encouraging active short-term positioning. In particular, as expectations of long-term price gains have been reflected, the broader market has remained tilted toward long positions, or bets on a rise.

A key concept here is the funding rate. It is a mechanism in which costs are periodically paid and received to balance long and short positions, and it has remained positive for most periods, meaning longs pay shorts. That means investors have maintained positions even while paying costs to bet on gains.

The problem is that this structure creates sharp selling pressure in a down market. Once prices start falling, leveraged long positions are liquidated in a chain, triggering additional selling. At the same time, short positions quickly increase, accelerating the decline. In other words, it amplifies gains in up markets and deepens losses in down markets.

Bitcoin’s 24-hour trading also has an impact. When a geopolitical shock or a macroeconomic event occurs while stock or commodities markets are closed, investors choose bitcoin as an asset they can respond with immediately. In most cases, they move to hedge risk through short positions rather than buying.

In fact, during episodes of market stress, the pattern repeats in which funding rates rapidly flip negative and short positions rise quickly. This shows that bitcoin is not being bought as a safe haven, but is being used as a hedging tool for risk avoidance.

This trend is somewhat distant from the often-cited narrative of 'digital gold'. Gold attracts inflows in a crisis and its price rises, while bitcoin, thanks to its liquidity and leverage structure, instead functions as an asset where selling and short positions concentrate.

The industry sees it as difficult for bitcoin to establish itself as a safe haven like gold in the short term as long as this market structure persists. Analysts say that as long as a leverage- and derivatives-centred structure continues, it is likely to keep playing the role of the 'asset that moves first' when macro shocks hit.