The price of Bitcoin (BTC) surpassed $50,000 for the first time in history across major futures exchanges, including Binance Futures. However, on spot exchanges, like Coinbase and Binance, the price of Bitcoin rejected closely below $50,000. Why more upside is likely On Feb. 16, the price of Bitcoin reached as high as $49,556 on Coinbase, marking its second attempt at breaking past the $50,000 resistance area. Shortly after hitting $49,556, BTC saw a steep pullback, declining by around 3.5% within several hours. CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju explained that Bitcoin’s struggle to break past $50,000 is about “Coinbase whales (USD) …

When BitMEX launched its Bitcoin (BTC) perpetual futures market in 2016, it created a new paradigm for cryptocurrency traders. Although this was not the first platform to offer BTC-settled inverse swaps, BitMEX brought usability and liquidity to a broader audience of investors. BitMEX contracts did not involve fiat or stablecoins and even though the reference price was calculated in the U.S. dollar, all profits and losses were paid in BTC. Fast forward to 2021, and Tether (USDT)-settled contracts have gained relevance. Using USDT-based contracts certainly makes it easier for retail investors to calculate their profit, loss and the required margin …

Bitcoin’s (BTC) abysmal December 2017 futures launch quickly fell short of investors expectations and even though the CME BTC market has surpassed $2.5 billion in open interest, the initial launch has reinforced the narrative that this week’s CME ETH futures launch will be equally bearish in the short term. Prior to the CME BTC futures launch, Bitcoin had already gained 1,900% for the year, a rally which some analysts argue was propelled by the expectation of regulated futures. Now that the CME ETH futures have launched, investors are watching closely to see if Ether (ETH) will face a similar situation …

Bitcoin (BTC) price posted a 25% gain after this week’s news of Tesla’s $1.5 billion BTC investment came out. Prior to this reveal, BTC was lagging behind Ether’s (ETH) performance by 7.5% but the numerous bullish events of the past few days helped BTC to hit a new all-time high at $48,900. Previous to Tesla’s announcement, BTC price was trading in the $30,000 to $41,500 range for nearly 3 weeks and once the price broke out one would expect pro traders and arbitrage desks to follow the bullish trend. Rather than flipping long, many of the top traders opened short …

Today Bitcoin (BTC) price rallied to a new all-time high at $44,900 shortly after Tesla announced a $1.5 billion investment. This event triggered $555 million worth of shorts to be liquidated in two hours and it happened as Bitcoin futures open interest reached $13.7 billion, which is just 3% below its historical high. These price moves drastically increased the cost of carrying long positions, mainly for those using perpetual futures. This indicator raised a yellow flag on how leveraged those investors are and their potential price impact. As shown adove, the aggregate BTC futures open interest just reached a $15 …

After bouncing from the recent short-term low, Bitcoin (BTC) price posted a 15% gain over three days as it climbed from $32,400 to $37,200. This was an impressive move given that BTC price had been trading in a sideways range for weeks and regardless of the reasons behind the surge, one would expect large traders and arbitrage desks to follow the trend. Interestingly, this is not the case as many of the top traders opened short positions as BTC commenced its 15% move. Even if a trader lacks confidence in a potential retest of the $42,000 all-time high, opening shorts …

On Feb. 5, a total of $1 billion in Bitcoin (BTC) options open interest is set to expire. This number is small relative to the past month's $4 billion options expiry, but monthly and quarterly options typically concentrate the most volume. Friday's expiry is somewhat unusual although it is balanced at the current BTC levels. Data also shows that bulls have many incentives to push up the price above $38,000. Deribit exchange holds 84% market share for Friday's expiry. By analyzing the aggregate open interest between $28,000 and $43,000, there are $300 million worth of neutral-to-bullish call options stacked against …

FTX is a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange backed by Alameda Research, a quantitative trading firm and crypto liquidity provider. The exchange launched in April 2019 and offered the usual spot trading, inverse swaps and futures contracts that can be found at other major platforms. By early 2020, the exchange launched its daily and weekly binary BTC options markets. FTT is the exchange’s native token and it’s issued on the Ethereum blockchain. FTT stakers are granted a trading fee discount based on a tiered system and other benefits include bonus votes in their polls and increased airdrop rewards. The first airdrop took …

When Bitcoin's (BTC) price dropped 10% to $29,150 on Jan. 27, something unusual happened with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) BTC futures contracts. As the price fell, these CME Bitcoin futures traded at a 1% discount to Coinbase, which signaled a disarrangement between both markets. Good morning. Bitcoin spot has almost full retraced the weekly. CME bitcoin futs are both backwardian and expire Friday. That is all. — i.am.nomad (@IamNomad) January 27, 2021 Immediately, traders suggested that futures contracts, which were set to expire in 48-hours, were responsible for the price dump. Now, before rushing to quick conclusions, one should …

In the last 24-hours Bitcoin (BTC) price dropped 10% today to test the $30,000 support. This drop below what traders have described as a ‘key’ support occurred just two days ahead of this month’s futures and options expiry. Despite the record-high $4 billion options expiry being just two days away, both bull and bear sides traded similar sizes today. Unlike futures contracts, options are divided into two segments. Call (buy) options allow the buyer to acquire BTC at a fixed price on the expiry date. On the other hand, the seller of the instrument will be obliged to make the …

Technology researcher Kevin Rooke has been tracking the Bitcoin (BTC) holdings of public companies throughout the past two years. According to Rooke, public firms now hold over $3.6 billion worth of BTC. In 2019, public companies had merely 20,000 BTC on their books. This figure has increased to 105,837 BTC in 12 months. Rooke said: “Last year, public companies held fewer than 20,000 BTC on their balance sheets. Today, 19 public companies hold 105,837 BTC on their balance sheets, valued at over $3.6 billion.” Today, MicroStrategy is the biggest Bitcoin holder, with 70,784 BTC, and GalaxyDigital Holdings is a distant …

Over the last 48 hours, Bitcoin (BTC) price climbed from $31,000 to $34,800 before reversing course and dropping the majority of these gains. While this $3,800 shift to the downside might not seem significant, the 12% oscillation liquidated $660 million worth of futures contracts. While it’s unlikely that there will ever be a definitive answer behind the move, on Jan. 25, President Joe Biden voiced his willingness to lower the $1.9 trillion stimulus package. This might have reduced incentives for those buying BTC as an inflation protection or a hedge against U.S. dollar devaluation versus leading global currencies. Shorter-term charts …