2020-2-29 21:46 |
Bearish traders have a stronghold within the crypto market with Bitcoin's (BTC) price down from above $10,000 earlier this week to $8,421. Shorts, meanwhile, are feeling the pain amidst this bloodbath.
Interestingly, on Bitfinex, the longs still dominate the market, making up to 95%. This majority contrasts sharply with the shorts on the Binance, which makes up 65% of its market.
Now, CME Bitcoin futures contracts for February are set to expire. Launched in Dec. 2017 during the market peak, CME recorded considerable growth over the last two years.
After the crypto-winter of 2018, 2019 brought a revival of volume: with prices climbing before dropping towards the second half of the year. However, in Feb. 2020, CME's platform registered the highest average daily open interest (OI) on Bitcoin futures.
This month marked the highest ever OI on CME bitcoin futures, breaking $1 billion in trading volume for the third time.
However, since hitting $1.1 billion in daily volume on Feb. 18, according to the data provider – Skew Market – the volume on the exchange took a hit. During these two weeks, the daily volume hit lows of $118 million. This week, however, it's been moving between $270 million and $450 million. OI also hit a low of $220 million down from $338 million on Feb. 14, before reaching a peak at $338 million.
This increased activity means the futures expiry will have a greater impact on BTC prices. In addition, CME has been accused of market manipulation, due to its involvement in the 2017 crash from the $20,000 ATH.
For the moment, Bitcoin is hovering around $8,600 and, according to the trader Crypto Michael said,
“We could see a bounce up to $9,000 from $8,300-8,400.”
“Futures expiring today, as well as current BTC prices, show that the gap is fully closed at $8,500 + a potential bullish divergence is starting to show.”
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