Most investors that follow Bitcoin will have recently heard about the growing impact Bitcoin (BTC) futures and options markets have on the Bitcoin price. The same can be said for the price swings caused by liquidations at OKEx and Huobi exchanges. Considering that derivatives markets are now playing a much bigger role in Bitcoin price fluctuations, it is becoming increasingly necessary to review some of the key metrics professional traders use to gauge activity in the markets. While reviewing futures and options contracts can be quite complicated, the average retail trader can still benefit from knowing how to properly interpret …

Bitcoin (BTC) is back this week as a rebound takes the largest cryptocurrency ever closer to new all-time highs — what’s in store? Cointelegraph takes a look what could move Bitcoin markets in the coming days as buyers emerge and $16,000 gets left behind — at least for now. Bitcoin cancels Black Friday discounts The main story among Bitcoiners on Monday is its performance over the weekend. After plumbing depths of $16,300 last week and failing to get much higher than $17,000 in the days following, Bitcoin surprised on Saturday, beginning a climb that has reached $18,600 on Nov. 30. …

A month ago, one would be hard pressed to find any investor who would have expected a $32,000 Bitcoin (BTC) price for January. At the time, a 140% upside was needed from the $13,300 price on Oct. 30 and this seemed quite far fetched. Therefore, the January $32,000 BTC call (buy) options traded at Deribit for a meager $67, or 0.005 BTC in late October. Fast forward to now, and the same call option peaked at $705. That’s an almost 10x gain in less than four weeks. Keep in mind that despite the rally to $19,484, an additional 67% upside …

There was a time when BitMEX derivatives exchange reigned sovereign over other exchanges, and the company effectively held a 50% market share until July 2019. For this reason, traders kept a close eye on every indicator connected to BitMEX, including its funding rate, open interest, and basis. Open interest measures the total number of contracts held by market participants. As the figure rises higher, so does the potential size of liquidations. On Aug. 2, a $1,400 crash happened as $1 billion in futures contracts were forcefully closed due to insufficient margins. Although there is no magic number, traders tend to …

CME Group has become the world’s largest Bitcoin (BTC) futures market following a surge in open interest over the past month, industry data shows. In a Friday tweet, Arcane Research announced that CME had overtaken OKEx as the world’s largest Bitcoin futures market. Citing data from Skew, a market intelligence firm, Arcane said open interest in CME’s Bitcoin futures contract has reached $1.16 billion. OKEx, meanwhile, registered $1.07 billion. “Institutional investors are here,” Arcane said. CME’s Bitcoin futures market has more than doubled over the past month, with more traders seeking exposure to the flagship cryptocurrency as it surged to …

The Bitcoin (BTC) price failed to blast through the $20,000 level this week, but multiple records related to volume and open interest were made on the way up to $19,484. One notable achievement was the open interest on aggregated futures contracts reaching $7.4 billion at derivatives exchanges. As depicted above, there has been a 110% increase over the past six months, and it is also worth noting that the Chicago Mercantile Exchange now holds over $1.1 billion of these contracts. This data is indisputable evidence of the growing institutional participation in BTC markets. Volume soared to new highs, will BTC …

Bybit announced Thursday that it will roll out a BTC/USD quarterly futures contract on Nov. 30. Two contracts will be offered at launch — BTCUSD1225, settling on Dec. 25, 2020, and BTCUSD0326, which will be settled on March 26, 2021. Bybit says the new futures contracts have no funding fee, which means traders can hold the position without charge as long as the contracts are still in effect. Like traditional futures contracts, Bitcoin (BTC) futures allow traders to buy and sell the digital currency at a predetermined price at a specific future date. Bybit isn’t the first crypto trading platform …

Bitcoin (BTC) price fell by a whopping 16% to $16,334 on Nov. 26 since achieving its peak at $19,484 the previous day. Data suggests that cascading liquidations were the driving force of the massive correction. Prior to the pullback, the open interest of the Bitcoin futures market hit a new record high. The derivatives market was also overheated with buyers, causing the market to sway to one side. The combination of two factors triggered a rapid BTC price drop alongside a spike in futures trading volume. Over a billion dollars worth of futures contracts were liquidated, similar to the March …

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) hit $19,000 on Nov. 24 for the first time since the historic rally in December 2017. Three key reasons are behind the dominant cryptocurrency’s strong momentum. The main factors buoying BTC’s ongoing rally are whale accumulation, decreasing exchange supply and explosive volume trends. Whales are still accumulating Bitcoin All throughout November, Cointelegraph reported that whale clusters were steadily forming as the price of Bitcoin rallied. These clusters emerge when Bitcoin whales buy BTC at a certain price point and do not move them. Analysts have interpreted this as a signal that whales are accumulating and …

After Bitcoin (BTC) price suddenly dropped from around $18,500 to $17,200, some traders began to question whether a local top had formed but there are multiple factors that suggest the bull run is still intact. Following the initial pullback, BTC continuously showed extreme volatility, demonstrating market uncertainty. The four factors that show Bitcoin’s momentum remains strong are whale inflows, a strong market response, resilience above each whale cluster, and high open interest. Whales are not selling large amounts of BTC According to data from CryptoQuant, whales are not selling large amounts of BTC. This trend is noteworthy because Bitcoin is …

Earlier today, Bitcoin (BTC) price peaked at $18,476 after an impressive 35% bull run that appears to have started in early September. This powerful movement was followed by a correction to $17,000, a natural pullback. This adjustment led some investors to question whether the current formation resembles the $13,850 top formed in July 2019. Back then, a 30% drop followed a similar-sized rally, and afterwards it took Bitcoin 14 months to regain the $13,850 level. Coincidently, an intense flash crash happened right after that local high, but the price eventually recovered and stabilized near $12,800. If something similar happened this …

Bitcoin (BTC) just set another 2020 high by rallying above $18,000 for the first time in three years. On Nov. 17, the BTC price rallied to $17,858 after a highvolume surge pushed the price cleanly through the $17,100 to $17,300 range that many analysts believed would be a strong resistance level. According to Decentrader co-founder Filbfilb, Bitcoin’s price could continue to march higher in the short term if key underlying supports hold. The popular analyst tweeted the above chart and said: “The current PA could still very easily result in a blow-off towards the Golden Ratio Multiplier, currently at 19K.” …