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 …

The price of Ether continues to push higher, and many analysts are calling for $3,000 as a short-term target. All of this "success" takes place in the face of Ether (ETH) being in a bottleneck regarding high fees, network congestion and a tense situation with miners. With decentralized finance (DeFi) applications taking center stage and the aggregate volumes at exchanges surpassing $4 billion per day, Ether's price has rallied over 200% since the start of the year, marking a new all-time high at $2,300 on April 13. This impressive price surge caused Ether's open interest to reach a record high …

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 …

XRP price's journey to $1 this year has been nothing short of spectacular, considering the ongoing Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit against Ripple initiated in December 2020. The regulator alleges that XRP was a $1.3 billion unregistered securities offering, and both CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Christian Larsen are also in the crosshairs. On Tuesday, Ripple Labs was granted access to the SEC's documents "expressing the agency's interpretation or views" on the subject of crypto assets. Such news coincided with an explosive 75% rally in 30 hours, causing XRP to cross the $1 mark for the first time since March …

On March 24, the price of Polkadot's DOT token corrected by 23% in a brief six-hour period, resulting in $174 million in liquidations across the futures market. This swift downside move also cut the aggregate open interest by 26%. Now that DOT's open interest is climbing to a new record high at $1 billion, investors may be worried that another price crash is on the way. Although the event severely hurt leveraged longs at the time, the token managed to rally 46% in 10 days, reaching an all-time high of $46. The explosive gain caused investors to recoup their confidence …

Now that Ether's (ETH) price broke the $2,000 level, hitting all-time highs this week, traders became excessively bullish and are expecting more upside in the short-term. Some analysts believe Visa's initial USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin transaction settlement on the Ethereum network kicked off the most recent rally. Others attribute the current Ether hike to a "triangle market structure" breakout. Regardless of the cause behind the recent 25% rally, professional traders seem highly optimistic this time around. This conclusion can be reached by looking at the surging futures’ basis, which has reached its highest level ever. This movement brings increased risks …

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 …

Ether (ETH) rebounded from a $1,550 low on March 24, which marked a 17% fall from the $1,870 weekly high. Even though the $1.15 billion options expiry in the early hours of March 26 could have pressured Ether price, the continuing surge in gas fees for Ethereum transactions likely played a part. To better assess these forces, one should analyze top traders' exposure using data provided by the largest crypto exchanges. If the case for the options expiry holds, the long-to-short data from whales and arbitrage desks will show buying activity after the options expiry at 8:00 UTC. Although the …

Ether (ETH) lost the $1,750 support on March 22, which marked a 7% loss and $230 million worth of futures contract liquidations. It has been holding near the strong support at $1,670, although investors are unwilling to open new long positions despite the price being 11% below the previous week's high. Binance Chain recently surpassed Ethereum's transaction volume, and this startling growth in unique active wallets certainly played a part in tampering with investors' optimism. The nonfungible token (NFT) frenzy has been driving new projects away from the Ethereum network's high fees. To further complicate things, multiple decentralized finance (DeFi) …

Cardano (ADA) has had an impressive start to the year as it broke through the psychological $1 barrier and made an all-time high at $1.50. The impressive 590% year-to-date gain took place as the network transformed into a multi-asset network, similar to Ethereum, and this could bode well for Cardano's future. The rally's final leg seems to be related to the Coinbase Pro listing, announced on March 16, and this resulted in a renewed push to $1.47 on March 18. As Cardano's price increased, so did its spot trading volume and on-chain transfers, which surpassed Litecoin (LTC). The increased interest …