On April 14 Bitcoin price hit a new all-time high at $64,850 and many of the crypto sector’s top analysts were calling for BTC to carry on to at least $100,000 before the rally showed any signs of possible exhaustion. Fast forward 37 days and Bitcoin now trades nearly 50% down from its all-time high after dropping as low as $30,000 to mark the sharpest correction in BTC price since March 2020. The general reaction among analysts has been mixed as some cite various metrics which suggest that $30,000 is the bottom for BTC. Others advise caution as the failure …

After an agonizing 35% loss in the past 24-hours, Bitcoin (BTC) finally bounced at $30,000 earlier today in the May 19 trading session. A total of $3.5 billion in liquidations took place, which might have accelerated the movement, but they can't really be entirely blamed for the move. However, the weakness in derivatives markets did give some strong signals that panic was instilled, causing unsustainable levels. These can be measured by the price gap between the futures markets and regular spot exchanges, along with the negative funding rate on perpetual contracts. Multiple culprits catalyzed the drop, including Elon Musk, Tether …

As Bitcoin (BTC) tested the $43,000 support for the third consecutive day, whales bought the dip on derivatives exchanges. While there has been no significant price change, the Bitcoin futures premium reached its lowest level in six months. This indicator matches Dec. 11, 2020, when Bitcoin hit a $17,600 low just 10 days after making an all-time high at $19,915. In December 2020, derivatives action triggered a 95% rally in 23 days, taking Bitcoin to a new high at $42,000. In addition to the futures premium bottoming, rumors of potentially harmful United States regulation played a central-stage role in the …

Bitcoin's 51.4% crash in March 2020 was the most horrific 24-hour black swan event in the digital asset's history. The recent price activity of the past week has probably resurrected similar emotions for investors who experienced the Black Thursday crash. Over the past week, Bitcoin's (BTC) price dropped 29% to reach a three-month low at $42,150. $5.5 billion in long contracts were liquidated, which is undoubtedly a record-high in absolute terms. Still, the impact of the March 2020 crash on derivatives was orders of magnitude higher. To understand why the current correction is less severe than the one in March …

The crypto sector is in a bull market, and frequent evidence comes from anonymous traders who post their five-, six- and seven-figure investment returns as screenshots on Crypto Twitter. This condition creates a FOMO-like situation where everyone gets greedy. The temptation to boost potential earnings by twenty times or more is often irresistible for most novice traders. Today, almost every cryptocurrency exchange offers leveraged trading using derivatives. To enter these markets, a trader has to first deposit collateral (margin), which is usually a stablecoin or Bitcoin (BTC). However, unlike spot (regular) trading, the trader cannot withdraw from a futures market …

Historically, activity surrounding the Bitcoin (BTC) monthly futures and options expiry has been blamed for weakening bullish momentum. A few studies from 2019 found a 2.3% average drop in BTC price 40 hours before the CME futures settlement date. However, as Cointelegraph reported in June 2020, the effect faded away. While 2020 seems to have rejected the potential negative impact of CME expiries, so far, the current year appears to validate the theory. Bitcoin’s price has been suppressed ahead of futures and options expiry in the first three months of 2021. Some investors and traders have pointed out that Bitcoin’s …

Cryptocurrency price corrected sharply today, including Ether (ETH), but this is a short-term move which is not reflective of the more macro-level events which still paint a bullish picture for assets like Ether and Bitcoin. In the last 30 days, Ether price gained 96%, moving from $2,138 to $4,200 on May 11. Normally the assumption would be that every trader is consumed with euphoria and this would be seen in the funding rate reaching record highs on Ether futures contracts but at the moment this is not the case. The funding rate appears to have flatlined on April 18 and …

Ether (ETH) initiated a rally on April 25, which resulted in a 90% gain that pushed the price to $4,200. The nonstop action has been fueled by an incredible increase in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, where the total value locked has surpassed $74 billion, a 51% increase in 18 days. This positive momentum has been decimating the neutral-to-bearish put (sell) options, giving bulls even more incentives to continue the rally. On May 14, a total of $730 million Ether options are set to expire, and bulls have complete control as the call (buy) options are in the majority. Record-high decentralized …

Decentralized exchange dTrade is bringing derivatives trading to the Polkadot ecosystem after concluding a $6.4-million seed investment round, setting the stage for wider decentralized finance use cases on the developer network. The private investment round was led by some of the biggest names in the blockchain venture capital world, including Three Arrows Capital and DeFiance. Polychain Capital, ParaFi Capital, Huobi, Mechanism Capital, Bixin Ventures, IOSG Ventures, Hypersphere Ventures and Fenbushi Capital also participated. Several companies have also stepped up to support liquidity on dTrade, including Alameda Research, CMS Holdings, MGNR, Kronos and Wintermute. Alameda Research has invested heavily in Defi …

Bitcoin's (BTC) recent price action has disappointed most investors, especially when one considers that the total altcoin market capitalization rallied 24% in nine days to reach a $1.35 trillion all-time high on May 9. Bitcoin's 62% accumulated gain in 2021 has BTC traders feeling somewhat frustrated with altcoins and meme coins pumping to new daily highs. On May 10, Fidelity, a $3.8 trillion global asset manager, filed for a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) request with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Fidelity's Wise Origin Bitcoin (BTC) partnered with the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and the SEC's first response …

The last couple of weeks have been nothing short of astonishing for Ether (ETH), as the cryptocurrency hiked over 80% to reach a $4,200 all-time high. Even after a 7% correction, the gains accumulated in 2021 surpass 300%, and Ether currently holds a market capitalization that exceeds $450 billion. In the face of such a mind-blowing performance, neither the futures contracts premium nor the options fear and greed indicator signal extreme optimism in the market. This data will likely lead some analysts to question whether traders are losing confidence in Ether's future price prospects. Citing the rationale for the current …

One of the largest investment banks in the world just launched a cryptocurrency trading desk — though executives made sure to specify they would only be trading derivatives, and will not have actual digital assets on the books. A CNBC report this morning revealed a internal Goldman Sachs memo announcing the launch of a cryptocurrency trading desk. The desk will be part of Goldman’s Global Currencies and Emerging Markets division, and overseen by Digital Assets head Mathew McDermott. The news comes shortly after a report yesterday that Goldman had begun offering BTC trading to clients via non-deliverable forwards (NDFs), a …