VIRTUAL drops 12% in 24 hours as shorts surge and spot buyers quietly accumulate

VIRTUAL declined 12% in 24 hours, taking its weekly loss to 11% as derivatives traders shifted sharply into short positions. Open interest in VIRTUAL perpetuals fell by $9.4 million to about $76 million, while spot buyers accumulated roughly $245,000 worth of tokens during the pullback. On-chain metrics show user numbers near 24,000 and protocol revenue down to around $32,000 from $133,000 on 14 February, highlighting weaker activity.