Bitcoin (BTC) hiked 20% in seven days in an unexpected move that brought the price to its highest level since May 18. The price appreciation happened despite United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reportedly supporting a broader definition of crypto companies in the HR 3684 infrastructure bill currently being considered in the U.S. Senate. Even though Bitcoin’s price continues to surge higher, investors are worried that regulation could erase the recent gains, but derivatives indicators show no sign of confidence from the bears. The proposal mandates that digital asset transactions worth more than $10,000 are to be reported to the …

Stepping up efforts to minimize the inherent risks of trading cryptocurrency, major crypto exchange Binance has announced it would restrict access to derivatives products to Hong Kong users. The official announcement reads: “Users from Hong Kong will have a 90 days’ grace period to close their open positions. During the grace period, no new positions may be opened.” However, Binance’s proactive means to restrict Hong Kong users was not supported by a date of when the restrictions will be imposed. To provide clarity behind Binance’s latest restrictions, CEO Changpeng Zhao said the move is aimed to be a “proactive measure” …

Despite the recent breakouts to the $40,000 level, Bitcoin’s (BTC) price could still face downward pressure in August. The 42% rally in late July effectively inspired some optimistic short-term options bets, but the initial data largely favors the neutral-to-bullish call options, and failure to sustain $40,000 has significantly reduced this advantage. A good deal of the pressure is probably coming from the infrastructure proposal in the United States Senate. HR 3684 tightens rules on businesses handling cryptocurrencies and expands reporting requirements for brokers, which has had a knock-on effect on the market’s bullish momentum. In addition to tightening regulations on …

Ether’s (ETH) price rallied 50% leading in the London hard fork because many investors expect the upgrade to solve the issue of high transaction fees and make the altcoin a deflationary asset. Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead has predicted that the upcoming upgrade would likely cause Ether to “flip” Bitcoin (BTC) as the leading cryptocurrency, but this is a topic under heavy contention. To understand the impact of the recent price movement, traders should analyze the weekly options expiry. Deribit derivatives currently hold an 86% market share in this segment, and the aggregate open interest for Friday currently stands at …

Long-dated Bitcoin options and bulls still make waves with their ultra bullish bets, but even they must admit that the possibility of (BTC) trading above $60,000 in the next couple of months is dim. Many traders have added leveraged-long positions via futures contracts to chase after the elusive all-time high, but this seems like an unrealistic outcome. According to Willy Woo, a popular on-chain analyst, exchange outflows and accumulation from BTC miners and whales suggest that Bitcoin price will reach the $50,000 to $65,000 range in the coming sessions. Even Gary Gensler, the Chair of the United States Securities and …

Bitcoin (BTC) might have failed to sustain the $42,000 support, and for many, this is a slightly bearish sign. Interestingly, the downward move occurred shortly after Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s largest oil exporter, denied having claimed to start mining Bitcoin. Top traders at exchanges seized the opportunity to add leverage-long positions, a clear bullishness indicator. Furthermore, margin traders have been increasing their stablecoin borrowing, indicating that whales and professional traders are expecting more upside from cryptocurrencies. The 24% weekly rally that took Bitcoin from $34,000 to its highest level since May 20 was fueled by a 30% surge in the …

Ether (ETH) rallied 35% over the past 10 days and reclaimed the critical $2,300 support, but the crucial $2,450 local top hasn't been tested since June 17. Part of the recent recovery can be attributed to the London hard fork, which is expected to go live on Aug. 4. Traders and investors view the EIP-1559 launch as a bullish factor for Ether's price because it is expected to reduce gas fees. However, Ethereum miners are not thrilled with the proposal because the proof-of-work model will no longer be necessary after Ethereum 2.0 goes live. The network fees will be set …

Troubled global cryptocurrency exchange Binance continues moving fast in curbing services to respond to the ongoing regulatory scrutiny worldwide, partly shutting down derivatives trading. Binance officially announced Friday that it would suspend its derivatives trading across the European region, starting with Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. The company clarified that users in mentioned countries cannot open new futures accounts on Binance effective immediately. We're continually evaluating our products and working with our partners to meet our users’ needs. Today we’re announcing that we plan to wind down our derivatives products offerings across the European region, commencing with the Netherlands, Germany, …

On Friday, July 30, a total of 42,850 Bitcoin (BTC) options contracts ($1.7 billion) are set to expire. This might be the first time since the May 21 weekly expiry that bulls will be able to profit from the $40,000 call (buy) options. The most recent surge in price may have been prompted by the rumor that Amazon would accept crypto payments, but after the e-commerce giant denied these rumors, BTC has held relatively steady. According to options markets, regardless of the reason behind the recent market strength, a few incentives are in place for bulls to sustain the $40,000 …

Bitcoin (BTC) bulls are locked in a battle with bears to take control of the $40,000 level and dovish comments from the United States Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, suggest that loose monetary policies will remain in place for the foreseeable future. Generally, the crypto ecosystem is “cautiously optimistic” about further price rises as the fallout from China’s miner purge begins to subside and displaced miners begin to establish mining operations in other countries, resulting in a rebound of the Bitcoin hash rate. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that while the momentum in Bitcoin has slowed down, …

Bitcoin (BTC) traders might be feeling extra euphoric after the recent 35% rally, but data suggests bears are not too worried because a similar breakout took place in mid-July and the price failed to hold the $40,000 support. To understand how bullish investors are this time around, let's take apart the derivatives data and look at the futures contracts premium and options skew. Typically, these indicators reveal how professional traders are pricing the odds of a potential retrace to $36,000. Even though the pattern isn't exactly similar, Bitcoin crashed to $31,000 on June 8 and bounced to $41,000 six days …

The derivatives exchange Bitget is set to become one of the first exchanges to list USD Coin (USDC) as collateral for trading crypto derivatives. The development comes courtesy of a strategic collaboration between the Singaporean crypto derivatives trading service and USDC stablecoin issuer Circle, as reported by Crowdfund Insider on Monday. Bitget will support USDC margins for Quanto Swap Contract trading as part of the partnership, a move the exchange says will provide more liquidity for the market. USDC now joins Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), EOS, and XRP as accepted margins for Quanto Swap contracts. Bitget launched Quanto Swap contracts …