This week the total crypto market capitalization rallied 10% to $1.68 trillion, which is a 25% recovery from the Jan. 24 bottom. It's too early to suggest that the market has found a bottom but two key indicators — The Tether/CNY premium and CME futures basis — have recently flipped bullish, signaling that positive investor sentiment is backing the current price recovery. Traders should not assume that the bear trend has ended by merely looking at price charts. For example, between Dec. 13 and Dec. 27, the sector's total market capitalization bounced from a $1.9 trillion low to $2.33 trillion. …

Bitcoin’s (BTC) sudden crash on Jan. 10 caused the price to trade below $40,000 for the first time in 110 days and this was a wake-up call to leveraged traders. $1.9 billion worth of long (buy) futures contracts were liquidated that week, causing the morale among traders to plunge. The crypto "Fear & Greed" index, which ranges from 0 "extreme fear" to 100 "greed" reached 10 on Jan. 10, the lowest level it has been since the Mar. 2020 crash. The indicator measures traders' sentiment using historical volatility, market momentum, volume, Bitcoin dominance and social media. As usual, the panic …

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 …

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 …

Major derivatives marketplace Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group has expanded its crypto offerings to include a micro Ether futures product. In a Monday announcement, the CME Group said it had launched a micro Ether (ETH) futures contract sized at 0.1 ETH, giving institutional and individual traders another product for Ether exposure. The cash-settled micro ETH derivatives offering is trading under the Globex code METZ1 and joins crypto derivatives products at the exchange including micro Bitcoin (BTC) futures, Bitcoin futures, options on Bitcoin futures, and Ether futures. The newest member of the CME Group cryptocurrency product family has arrived. Micro Ether futures …

Denver-based investment firm Kelly Strategic Management has filed for an exchange-traded fund (ETF) offering exposure to Ethereum (ETH) futures contracts. The move comes just three months after VanEck and ProShares suddenly withdrew their ETH futures ETF applications on the same day in August. According to a Nov. 29 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Kelly Ethereum Ether Strategy ETF will invest in cash-settled Ether futures contracts traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). Bloomberg’s Senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted on Twitter today that Kelly’s Ether ETF may have a slim 20% chance of getting approval, …

After dropping a filing for a Bitcoin (BTC) futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) in October, the United States’ $1.6 trillion asset manager, Invesco, has disclosed the reasons behind the decision. Anna Paglia, Invesco’s global head of ETFs and indexed strategies, said that the biggest reason for dropping the filing was that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) only approved Bitcoin ETFs with 100% exposure to Bitcoin futures. The Invesco Bitcoin Strategy ETF was designed to ideally be a mix of futures swaps, physical Bitcoin and private funds in the Bitcoin industry, Paglia said in a Sunday interview with The Financial …

Google’s parent company Alphabet has made a $1 billion equity investment in the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group, the exchange responsible for many crypto derivatives products. In a Nov. 4 notice to investors, the CME Group announced the $1 billion investment from Alphabet in addition to a 10-year strategic partnership with Google Cloud aimed at accelerating the exchange’s move to the cloud and changing the way global derivatives markets operate. Google made the investment through the company’s nonvoting convertible preferred stock. "Through this long-term partnership with Google Cloud, CME Group will transform derivatives markets through technology, expanding access and creating efficiencies …

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), one of the world’s biggest derivatives marketplaces, continues expanding its cryptocurrency derivatives offerings by adding a new Ether (ETH)-based product. CME announced Tuesday that it is planning to launch a micro Ether futures contract, sized at 0.1 ETH, enabling a new type of Ether exposure to institutional and individual traders. The new product will become the fourth crypto derivatives product ever launched by CME and is expected to be rolled out on Dec. 6, 2021, pending regulatory approval. The news comes amid Ether sitting near all-time high levels after the cryptocurrency posted its highest historical …

Cryptocurrency brokerage firm Genesis Global Capital has announced the completion of a first-of-a-kind trade that will pave the way for new institutional crypto futures products. Genesis has executed the first-ever over-the-counter (OTC) block trade of a Basis Trade at Index Close (BTIC) transaction using Bitcoin futures contracts issued by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). The trade was made in collaboration with derivatives market maker Akuna Capital according to a Sunday announcement. This is the first time a BTIC has been used for cryptocurrencies as it is more commonly used in equities markets. This form of trading allows investors to buy …

Ethereum’s native token, Ether (ETH), staged a rebound on Sept. 26 following a massive decline earlier this week that saw its prices plunging to as low as $2,651 on Coinbase. The ETH/USD exchange rate rose 3.63% to hit an intraday high of $3,030. The upside move amounted to a 14.3% upside retracement from the pair’s week-to-date low at $2,651, showing that traders attempted to retain their bullish bias despite potential headwinds ahead. Last week, ETH prices fell due to a flurry of issues arising from China. On Monday, traders dumped crypto assets en masse after a tumult in China’s heavily …

China bans Bitcoin (BTC) — again. No, we’re not traveling back in time. On Sept. 24, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) published a new set of measures to promote inter-departmental coordination on cracking down on crypto activity. The measures intended to “cut off payment channels, dispose of relevant websites and mobile applications in accordance with the law.” Most investors may have missed the $3 billion Bitcoin (BTC) and $1.5 billion Ether (ETH) monthly options expiry that took place less than one hour before the news of the crypto ban came out. According to “Molly”, a former Bitcoin Magazine contributor, …