Bitcoin (BTC) is in line for "explosive" price action as derivatives markets return to form in 2022, a new forecast states. In a tweet on Jan. 4, Vetle Lunde, an analyst at Arcane Research, confirmed that BTC denominated open interest (OI) had returned to all-time highs seen in November. Open interest demands "fireworks" within weeks Bitcoin futures and options have taken a beating during the end-of-year BTC/USD retracement, but as the holiday period ended, consensus began to form around a major comeback. Institutional traders should become the major force on Bitcoin markets, some say, and derivatives are already showing signs …

New York-based crypto predictions platform Polymarket has reached a settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to pay a fine of $1.4 million. Polymarket is a decentralized platform that enables users to bet on the outcomes of event markets such as pro-sports games and political elections via binary options contracts. On Jan. 3, the CFTC announced that it had entered an order filing and simultaneously settling charges against Polymarket, with the platform found to have operated an “illegal unregistered or non-designated facility” since June 2020. Under the order, Polymarket is required to pay a civil monetary penalty of $1.4 …

Even though Ether (ETH) reached a $4,870 all-time high on Nov. 10, bulls have little reason to celebrate. The 290% gains year-to-date have been overshadowed by Dec.'s 18% price drop. Still, Ethereum's network value locked in smart contracts (TVL) increased nine-fold to $155 billion. Looking at the past couple of months' price performance chart doesn't really tell the whole story, and Ether's current $450 billion market capitalization makes it one of the world's top 20 tradable assets, right behind the two-century-old Johnson & Johnson conglomerate. 2021 should be remembered by the decentralized exchanges' sheer growth, whose daily volume reached $3 …

Bitcoin's (BTC) price has been ranging between $46,000 and $52,000 for 26 days. Despite the large nominal $6.1 billion year-end options expiry, the bullish and bearish instruments were evenly balanced between $44,000 and $49,000. Therefore, it was no surprise that the $47,175 price at 8:00 am UTC on Dec. 31 brought little change to the price structure. Even the 3% rally to $48,500 following the event failed to sustain itself, signaling that bears are unwilling to cede their upper hand. Bulls might have interpreted the 9,925 BTC leaving Coinbase in 24 hours as a positive trigger, considering fewer coins are …

We‘ve all heard stories of billion-dollar future contracts liquidations being the cause of 25% intraday price crashes in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) but the truth is, the industry has been plagued by 100x leverage instruments since BitMEX launched its perpetual futures contract in May 2016. The derivatives industry goes far beyond these retail-driven instruments, as institutional clients, mutual funds, market makers and professional traders can benefit from using the instrument‘s hedging capabilities. In April 2020, Renaissance Technologies, a $130 billion hedge fund, received the green light to invest in Bitcoin futures markets using instruments listed at the CME. These …

Bitcoin (BTC) may be down over 30% from its record high of $69,000, but it has emerged as one of the best-performing financial assets in 2021. BTC has bested the U.S. benchmark index, the S&P 500, and the gold. Arcane Research noted in its new report that Bitcoin's year-to-date (YTD) performance came out to be nearly 73%. In comparison, the S&P 500 index surged 28%, and gold dropped by 7% in the same period, which marks the third year that Bitcoin has outperformed. At the core of Bitcoin's extremely bullish performance was higher inflation. The U.S. consumer price index (CPI) …

Looking at the Bitcoin chart from a weekly or daily perspective presents a bearish outlook and it's clear that (BTC) price has been consistently making lower lows since hitting an all-time high at $69,000. Curiously, the Nov. 10 price peak happened right as the United States announced that inflation has hit a 30-year high, but, the mood quickly reversed after fears related to China-based real estate developer Evergrande defaulting on its loans. This appears to have impacted the broader market structure. Traders are still afraid of stablecoin regulation This initial corrective phase was quickly followed by relentless pressure from regulators …

Since hitting an all-time high at $4,870 on Nov. 10, Ether (ETH) price has been posting lower lows over the past 50 days. If this downtrend continues, the lower trendline support suggests that the altcoin will bottom at $3,600. Still, derivatives data is signaling that pro traders are not concerned about the seemingly bearish market structure. Notice how the price peaks are getting lower on the 12-hour time frame as mounting regulatory concerns drive investors away from the sector. In a press conference on Dec. 17, Russia's Central Bank governor, Elvira Nabiullina, stated that banning crypto in the country is …

The cryptocurrency market has been under a period of duress, with a majority of the tokens in the cryptoverse witnessing a price slump that has set in since the first week of December. The flagship cryptocurrency token, Bitcoin (BTC), underwent a flash crash on Dec. 4, wherein the price of the token fell below $50,000 in nearly two months, as per data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro. This phenomenon was witnessed among the majority of the cryptocurrency tokens as the market was gradually painted in red. Ethereum and Ether (ETH) came to be the network and token of choice for a …

Dec. 13 will likely be remembered as a “bloody Monday” after Bitcoin (BTC) price lost the $47,000 support, and altcoin prices dropped by as much as 25% within a matter of moments. When the move occurred, analysts quickly reasoned that Bitcoin’s 8.5% correction was directly connected to the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting which starts on Dec. 15. Investors are afraid that the Federal Reserve will eventually start tapering, which simply put, is a reduction of the Federal Reserve’s bond repurchasing program. The logic is that a revision of the current monetary policy would negatively impact riskier assets. While …

Bitcoin (BTC) has been struggling to sustain the $47,500 support since the Dec. 4 crash, a movement that wiped out over $840 million in leveraged long futures contracts. The downside move came after the emergence of the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus and recent data showing U.S. inflation hitting a 40-year high. While newcomers might have been scared by the 26% price correction over the past month, whales and avid investors like MicroStrategy added to their positions. On Dec. 9, MicroStrategy announced that they had acquired 1,434 Bitcoin, which increased their stake to 122,478 BTC. According to some analysts, the …

Most traders have noticed that Ether (ETH) price has seriously outperformed Bitcoin (BTC) for months now and the ETH/BTC ratio has rallied more than 230% in 2021 and recently hit a new high at 0.089 BTC on Dec. 9. To put things in perspective, Ether's $490 billion market capitalization currently represents 54% of Bitcoin's $903 billion. This ratio finished 2020 at a mere 15%, so it is safe to conclude that some 'flippening' has occurred. It might still be far from what Ethereum-maximalists imagined, but it is still quite a respectable run. Instead of analyzing the rationale for the move …