Analysts say bitcoin has held up better than equities because much of the leveraged positioning was flushed out in late June, limiting forced selling during the latest bout of volatility. Investors now await U.S. jobs data and a clearer Federal Reserve path to see if spot bitcoin ETF inflows will resume. Bitcoin BTC$64,297.69 is ending July on firmer footing than many investors might have expected. Yes, it slipped below $63,000 on Friday, down about 3% on the day. But zoom out, and the largest cryptocurrency is still on track to finish the month up roughly 7.5% — a respectable showing considering the list of headwinds markets have had to absorb.

The past few weeks have brought rising expectations that the Fed could hike rates this year, climbing bond yield, a sharp unwind in the AI trade and — most recently — a high-profile security incident involving Coldcard, one of bitcoin's best-known hardware wallets. Yet bitcoin has avoided a deeper pullback that many feared and consolidated above its bear market lows even as risk appetite cooled in other pockets of the market. Part of that resilience comes down to positioning, Bitfinex analysts said. Crypto entered the Fed meeting with far less leverage than equities after derivatives traders were largely flushed out during the selloff late June that brought BTC below $58,000 on July 1, the analysts noted. Since then, average daily liquidations have remained well below this year's typical $400 million-$500 million range, suggesting there has been little forced selling…