Solana (SOL) price is meeting resistance near its all-time high again, but solid fundamentals and the impressive growth of its decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible token (NFT) ecosystem are likely to drive the altcoin above $250 before year-end. Institutional investor interest is likely a key factor behind Solana’s impressive 490% gain since August. For example, SOL is the fourth largest Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund ($BITW) component, which overall is a $1.3 billion over-the-counter tradable market instrument. Traders should remember that this event is not necessarily positive since futures contracts require both a buyer (long) and a seller (short). Nevertheless, …

The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy exchange-traded fund (ETF) is on track to reach a limit on the number of futures contracts it’s allowed after quickly becoming a little too popular. After just a couple of days of trading, the ProShares ETF has reached 1,900 contracts sold for October and there is a 2,000 front-month limit imposed by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. There are already 1,400 contracts for November and there is an overall maximum limit of 5,000 open contracts according to Bloomberg. One solution could be to offer longer contracts, but that would carry the danger of too much distancing from …

The odds of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approving a Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) before a physical Bitcoin ETF are higher than ever, courtesy of Chairman Gary Gensler’s now oft-repeated preference for the former. But here’s the issue: an ETF built around crypto futures isn’t the most efficient, economical or easiest route. Physically backed products are. They’re likely to attract more assets and open the crypto market to more investors. And they are much easier for investors to understand. This is why fund issuers are better off pressing the SEC for clarity on what’s needed to …

Some traders have said that Filecoin (FIL) has lost its momentum because its current price at $64 is more than 70% below its all-time high at $238. However, this decentralized data-sharing platform is showing signs of increasing adoption and this could cause the FIL token price to accelerate its current uptrend. The FIL token is used to purchase storage space and retrieve data from the Filecoin Network. At the same time, its users gain rewards for selling their excess storage using this open-source platform. To compete with existing centralized cloud storage services, Filecoin has economic incentives to ensure files are …

The long wait for a Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) could soon be over according to sources reported by financial media giant Bloomberg. Citing “people familiar with the matter,” Bloomberg has reported that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission is poised to approve the first Bitcoin futures ETFs in the country. The anonymous sources said: “The regulator isn’t likely to block the products from starting to trade next week.” A futures product is likely to be the first one approved since they are viewed more favorably by regulators. Futures are governed by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and require …

Open interest (OI) for Bitcoin (BTC) Futures trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) inched toward a new record high on Oct. 14 as BTC reclaimed its five-month high of $58,550 on BitStamp. The total number of outstanding derivatives contracts on the CME Group's Bitcoin Futures market reached $3.22 billion, just $40 million below its record high logged in Feb 2021, according to data provided by ByBt.com. Nonetheless, the OI came out to be higher than it was at the Bitcoin price's peak in mid-April. In detail, the Bitcoin Futures OI on CME was $3.02 billion on April 14, the …

A Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst says there are “good” signs that a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) will soon be approved, pointing to Ark Invest filing for a Bitcoin futures ETF with an assigned ticker and Valkyrie updating its own ETF prospectus with a ticker. Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management LLC filed for a Bitcoin (BTC) futures ETF under the ARKA ticker, while Valkyrie has assigned its BTC futures prospectus with the BTF ticker. According to Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas, firms typically update their proposals when they have everything set and “ready for launch,” suggesting that Valkyrie may soon be given …

The price of Ether (ETH) is lagging Bitcoin's (BTC) price action by 13% in October, but is this relevant? To date, the altcoin has still outperformed BTC by 274% in 2021. However, traders tend to be short-sighted and some will question whether the Ethereum network can successfully migrate to proof of stake (PoS) validation and finally solve the high gas fees issue. Moreover, the increasing competition from smart contract networks like Solana (SOL) and Avalanche (AVAX) have been worrying investors: One big problem with the “ETH is ultra sound money” meme is that EIP-1559 only limits the supply of ETH …

Experienced analysts and media outlets including Cointelegraph recently highlighted some indicators suggesting that the Bitcoin (BTC) price rally could be overextended. Those bearish views include one from Bollinger bands creator John Bollinger, suggesting traders use a trailing stop, as signs of a “top” were building up. However, it is worth noting that Bollinger Bands and the Fear and Greed indicator are backward-looking metrics. Therefore, those will usually flash overbought levels whenever there’s a 30% weekly rally, such as the most recent one. As crypto analyst TechDev_52 correctly questioned, there’s no way to know whether we’re entering a large potential correction …

Bitcoin (BTC) derivatives traders on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) missed out on incredible profits as BTC’s spot price smashed through $55,000 this week. Retail investors reduced their long exposure across the Bitcoin futures and options markets in late September, according to data shared by Ecoinometrics. The amount of open short positions also climbed, indicating that derivative traders anticipated Bitcoin’s price to drop, as shown in the chart below. The data was taken on Sept. 28, when BTC price had fallen below $41,000 on Coinbase — down almost 23% from its month-to-date high near $52,950. The drop surfaced in the …

EOS (EOS) began a descending trend 53 days ago and despite the recent 27% weekly gain, the altcoin is not showing any signs of a reversal. As a result, investors are questioning whether the former top-5 cryptocurrency has what it takes to turn around after Daniel Larimer, CTO of the development company behind EOS, resigned in late 2020. The emergence of competing proof-of-stake smart contract platforms like Solana (SOL), Polkadot (DOT) and Avalanche (AVAX) possibly weighed on this 2017-era project. One potentially bullish catalyst could be the fact that Block.one, the company responsible for the EOS token launch, owns over …

Cryptocurrency markets rallied 12.5% over the past seven days to reach a $2.44 trillion market capitalization. However, that move doesn't seem to be inspiring confidence because the same level was tested 16 days ago when a 27% retrace followed Ether's (ETH) attempt to break $3,650 over the next six days. Regulation seems to be a key concerning factor for buyers as the United States House of Representatives is expected to vote on the $1 trillion infrastructure bill this month. In addition to defining who qualifies as a broker, the legislation would impose anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) type requirements …