Open interest in Bitcoin futures has surged to new record highs ahead of Coinbase’s Wednesday direct listing on the Nasdaq. Crypto market data aggregator Glassode states that Bitcoin open interest has exceeded $27 billion for the first time as Bitcoin (BTC) pushed into new record highs above $63,000. The milestone suggests traders may be speculating on higher prices, although some may also be hedging against incoming volatility. #Bitcoin Futures Open Interest across major exchanges reaches record highs of more than $27B as $BTC hits new ATHs. Chart: https://t.co/GqgQ98W7Mq pic.twitter.com/KYBQC9WZxC — glassnode (@glassnode) April 13, 2021 The lion’s share of trading …

Margin trading allows an investor to borrow money or cryptocurrency to leverage their trading position and increase its size or the expected return. For example, borrowing Tether (USDT) will allow one to buy Bitcoin (BTC), thus increasing the exposure. Although there’s an interest rate involved with borrowing, the trader expects BTC's price appreciation to compensate for it. Newer traders might be unaware of this, but investors can borrow BTC to margin trade a short position, thus betting on price downside. This is why some analysts monitor the total lending amounts of Bitcoin and Tether to gain insight into whether investors …

Bitcoin (BTC) has been struggling to break the $60,000 resistance for almost a month. But despite the impasse, BTC futures markets have never been so bullish. While regular spot exchanges are trading near $59,600, the BTC contracts maturing in June are trading above $65,000. Futures contracts tend to trade at a premium, mainly on neutral-to-bullish markets, and this happens on every asset, including commodities, equities, indexes and currencies. However, a 50% annualized premium (basis) for contracts expiring in three months is highly uncommon. Unlike the perpetual contract — or inverse swap — these fixed-calendar futures do not have a funding …

After flirting with a $2 trillion market capitalization for the last couple of days, the cryptocurrency market took a 7% hit on April 7, dropping the total crypto market cap to $1.8 trillion. As the unexpected sell-off took place, investors scrambled to find a reason to explain the move. Analysts typically identify the use of excessive leverage as the prime suspect, as this usually occurs as the market reaches an all-time high and traders get greedy, but this is an easy conclusion to reach. The actual cause could be near impossible to determine. Still, a starting place is looking at …

A filing from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shows BlackRock Financial Management’s Bitcoin futures contracts have appreciated significantly this year. According to BlackRock’s monthly portfolio investments report released by the SEC today, the firm held 37 Bitcoin futures contracts issued through the Chicago Mercantile Exchange which expired on March 26. The contracts appreciated by $360,457. The gains from the Bitcoin (BTC) futures represent roughly 0.00142% of BlackRock’s Global Allocation Fund, or 6.12 BTC at the time of publication. The company holds more than $8.6 trillion in total assets under management. Last month, the firm’s chief investment officer, Rick Rieder, …

March 30 could become a historical day that will be remembered by Bitcoin (BTC) fans for a long time. Besides marking a 17% recovery from the $50,300 bottom on March 25, PayPal officially confirmed that it will support crypto payments for U.S. customers. Moreover, CME Group announced that its Micro Bitcoin futures contracts will launch on May 3 with the contract size starting at 0.1 BTC each. Additional bullish news came as Morning Brew, a daily business newsletter with 2.5 million subscribers, finally dropped gold and is now exhibiting Bitcoin price in its markets section alongside the S&P 500, Nasdaq, …

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange, or CME, has unveiled plans to launch a new Bitcoin (BTC) derivatives product that will enable traders to speculate on fractional units of the flagship digital currency. CME Group’s Micro Bitcoin futures contract, which is set to launch May 3 pending regulatory approval, will be worth 0.1 BTC. The smaller contract size provides market participants with an additional tool to hedge their Bitcoin price risk, CME said Tuesday. CME’s current Bitcoin contract unit is 5 BTC. Tim McCourt, CME Group’s global head of equity index and alternative investment products, explained: “The introduction of Micro Bitcoin futures …

The open interest on Bitcoin (BTC) Dec. 31 call options between $100,000 and $300,000 reached an impressive 6,700 contracts, which is currently worth $385 million. These derivatives give the buyer the right to acquire Bitcoin for a fixed price, while the seller is obliged to honor the price. One might think that this is a great way to leverage a long position, but it comes at a cost and is usually quite high. For this right, the buyer pays an upfront fee (premium) to the call option seller. For example, the $100,000 call option is currently trading at 0.164 BTC, …

Bitcoin (BTC) is showing tenacity above $50,000 on March 25. The 10% drop over the last 24 hours happened despite Tesla allowing customers to buy vehicles using BTC in addition to CEO Elon Musk affirming that it will not be converted to fiat currency. On March 22, the United States Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, stated that Bitcoin was too volatile, "backed by nothing," and more of an asset for speculation. Curiously, on that same day, BTC lost its $56,000 support, which became a resistance. Traders worry that the pump might have been news-driven, while the downtrend movement shall prevail. …

Chicago-based exchange holding company Cboe markets — an early pioneer of regulated Bitcoin futures trading in the United States — plans to build out more futures products within the crypto sector in future. In a new interview with BNN Bloomberg on March 25, CEO Ed Tilly said that the company's not always straightforward journey until now by no means dampened its commitment. Having been the first North American exchange to list Bitcoin (BTC) futures back in Dec. 2017, the Chicago Board Options Exchange, or CBOE, later ended the product in 2019, faced with stiff competition from popular BTC futures on …

Futures contracts trading has grown immensely over the past year, and proof of this comes from the total rise in open interest. Open interest is the total number of outstanding contracts, and the figure has risen from $3.9 billion to the current $21.5 billion in six months, a 450% increase. Sometimes traders assume that a high or low funding rate and soaring open interest indicate a bullish market, but as Cointelegraph has explained before, this is not the case. This article will take a quick look at the funding rate and how traders interpret the metric when trading perpetual futures …

Bitcoin (BTC) might have been ranging from $57,000 to $59,500 over the last couple of days, but the top traders at major exchanges have increased their long positions. A similar move also happened in the monthly futures contracts, as the basis rate has increased. After marking a $61,750 all-time high on March 13, Bitcoin has been trying to find new support levels. Although BTC initially held ground at $54,000, there currently seems to be decent buying activity around $57,000. While professional traders' optimism (as measured by their long-to-short exposure and the futures contracts premium) has gone down substantially, their interest …