Bitcoin (BTC) might have recovered from the $47,000 low seen on April 25, but the subsequent 15% bounce was not enough to bring optimism to the BTC options markets. Even at the present $54,000 level, the price remains 17% below the $64,900 all-time high reached on April 14. The popular Crypto Fear & Greed Index reached its lowest level in 12 months, signaling thatinvestors are closer to "extreme fear," which is a complete reversal from the "extreme greed" level seen on April 18. This indicator gathers data from price volatility, volume change, social media activity, Bitcoin dominance and recent search …

In the past two years futures contracts have become widely popular among cryptocurrency traders and this became more evident as the total open interest on derivatives more than doubled in three months. Additional proof of their popularity came as futures turnover surpassed gold, which is a well-established market with $107 billion in daily volume. However, each exchange has its own orderbook, index calculation, leverage limits and rules for cross and isolated margin. These differences might seem superficial at first, but they can make a huge difference depending a traders' needs. Open interest As shown in the above, the total aggregate …

As Bitcoin (BTC) lost the $52,000 support on April 22, the futures contracts funding rate entered negative terrain. This uncommon situation causes the shorts, investors betting on price downside, to pay fees every eight hours. While the rate itself is mildly damaging, this situation creates incentives for arbitrage desks and market makers to buy perpetual contracts (inverse swaps) while simultaneously selling the future monthly contracts. The cheaper it is for long-term leverage, the higher the incentives for bulls to open positions, creating a perfect "bear trap." The above chart shows how unusual a negative funding rate is, and typically it …

Bitcoin and the wider cryptocurrency market took a beating in the late ho April 22, and intense selling saw (BTC) price dip below $48,000 in a move that came as a relief to quantitative analysts like PlanB who were worried that the price growth was showing signs of being inorganic. A variety of factors have been identified as being the cause of the drop in price, including an overcrowded futures market and heavy selling activity from small- to medium-size whales. Aside from the activity of whales in the crypto market, the most impactful development was a proposal from the administration …

Bitcoin (BTC) has been bouncing at the $51,000 support for the past 44 days. Typically, this would be interpreted as a positive occurrence, especially considering that the $50,000 level represents a 75% advance in 2021. However, cryptocurrency investors are typically short-term-focused and always overly optimistic. Thus, the current narrative for Bitcoin is slowly turning bearish but aside from sentiment, what story are the fundamentals telling? However, there is a possibility that the recent drop has its roots in the $1.55 billion options expiry set to occur on April 23. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, bears have a $340 million advantage …

The price of Ether (ETH) fell by 19.6% on April 18, resulting in the quick liquidation of $1 billion in long futures contracts. Despite the size of this record liquidation and its impact on Ether's price, the futures open interest remained above $20.5 billion, which is 5% below the previous month. After the sell-off, there were signs that investor sentiment deteriorated, which was evident in derivatives markets. Historically, there's much higher borrowing demand for Ether longs as opposed to shorts. Over the past couple of days, the long-to-short ratio has flipped, reaching the lowest level since December 2018. There's hardly …

How popular are trading bots in the crypto market right now? According to TradeSanta, demand for trading bots has increased substantially of late. The latest figures from the platform’s website suggest that it now has more than 100,000 active users, and over 3,200 active trading bots. More than 3.8 million deals have also been completed since the software launched. A range of technical indicators are provided by TradeSanta, and the software also allows large volumes of crypto to be bought and sold without causing prices to spike or drop. Trading bots can also be launched in just five minutes using …

Decentralized finance protocol Hegic has announced a soft governance launch designed to reward its long-term users. According to an April 19 announcement, Hegic intends to reward its most loyal users with its new gHEGIC governance token, straying from the public airdrops and yield farming campaigns that have become a popular means to distribute governance in the DeFi sector. Users hodling gHEGIC will be able to vote in future Hegic Improvement Proposals. Hegic is a decentralized on-chain derivatives protocol that allows users to purchase call and put options to speculate on Ethereum and Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC). Users can provide liquidity to …

Bitcoin (BTC) price is making a slow recovery after facing a sharp 16% correction in the early hours of April 18. While some analysts blame a 9,000 BTC deposit at Binance, others focused on the hashrate drop caused by a coal mining accident in China. Regardless of the reason behind the $51,200 low, options market makers were forced to adjust their exposure. Typically, arbitrage desks seek non-directional exposure, meaning they are not directly betting on BTC moving in any particular direction. However, neutralizing options exposure usually requires a dynamic hedge, meaning positions must be adjusted according to Bitcoin's price. These …

The last 10 days have been nothing short of impressive for Dogecoin (DOGE), which rallied by more than 500% to a new all-time high at $0.45. Even after a 15% correction, the powerful rally catapulted Dogecoin’s market capitalization above well-established financial institutions like ING, Barclays and Credit Agricole. The meme-driven cryptocurrency was pushed higher by multiple Twitter posts from Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX — and the second-wealthiest person alive. Musk is not the only billionaire businessman to support the cryptocurrency. Whether or not there are fundamentals behind the meteoric price hike, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has …

Ethereum paved the way for lower transaction costs with its Berlin upgrade on April 15. However, traders already know that Ethereum Improvement Proposal 1559 is the most anticipated and controversial change scheduled for the upcoming London hard fork. The EIP introduces a base fee that will be burned when a transaction occurs, while miners receive a tip for validating transactions. This move would severely pressure miners' earnings, but the proposal aims to tame the skyrocketing gas fees that have plagued the network for the past two years. The recent rally and conflict with miners boosted demand for protective options Both …

XRP holders couldn’t have asked for a better year as the cryptocurrency rallied almost 800% and flirted with a $2 level in the early hours of Wednesday. In addition to achieving its highest level since January 2018, this robust price increase signals that investors are not worried about the ongoing SEC “unregistered securities offering” dispute. However, just six hours after rallying to $1.96, XRP’s price crashed by more than 20%. During an interview, DCG Group CEO Barry Silbert said it would be risky for exchanges and companies in the United States to relist XRP ahead of receiving the United States …