On Thursday, the cryptocurrency markets experienced a significant surge, marked by Bitcoin (BTC) surpassing the $27,000 threshold. This price increase was accompanied by a reduction in broader economic pressures.
BTC had previously reached nearly $27,300 before settling at $27,010 at the time of reporting, reflecting a 3.2% increase over the past 24 hours.
The CoinDesk Market Index (CMI), which gauges the performance of a diverse range of cryptocurrencies, saw a 3.8% uptick, with the CoinDesk DeFi Index (DCF) leading the way with a 5.5% gain.
Notable gains were witnessed in the governance tokens of prominent DeFi lending platforms: COMP, AAVE, and MKR, which saw increases of 21%, 10%, and 5%, respectively. LDO, the token associated with Lido Finance, a leading liquid staking platform, also experienced a significant rise of nearly 9%.
Arbitrum’s ARB, part of the Ethereum scaling network, surged by 9.6%, recuperating losses incurred earlier in the month.
This crypto upswing occurred concurrently with a modest recovery in U.S. stock markets, as the 10-year Treasury yield retracted from a 16-year high. Additionally, oil prices retreated from their 2023 peak, and the value of the U.S. dollar declined.
ETH price surged on the back of ETF optimism.
Ether (ETH) demonstrated superior performance compared to Bitcoin, with a 4.8% gain, reaching $1,660, as investor optimism grew regarding the potential approval of a futures-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) by U.S. regulators.
According to Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas, in an X post, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reportedly requested ETF applicants to update their applications swiftly to enable potential approval and trading next week due to the looming government shutdown.
Furthermore, VanEck has submitted documentation for its own futures-based ETH ETF, joining previously filed applications by Grayscale, ProShares, Bitwise, and other entities.
Approaching Options Expiry
As we approach the options expiry date, crypto derivatives traders are preparing for both quarterly and monthly expirations set to take place on Friday. These expirations involve a substantial $4.8 billion worth of BTC and ETH options set to conclude on the prominent derivatives exchange, Deribit.
In a recent market report, FalconX, an institutional crypto exchange, highlighted that open interest data on Deribit reveals a noteworthy concentration of outstanding contracts centered around the $27,000 price level for BTC. Interestingly, this concentration is nearly evenly divided between call options (3,584 contracts) and put options (3,773 contracts), as indicated by data sourced from Amberdata.
David Lawant, head of research at FalconX, observed this balanced distribution and concluded that option traders seem to lack a clear consensus regarding the short-term direction of cryptocurrency prices.
Bitcoin (BTC) continues to maintain a trading range between $25,000 and $31,000. Julius de Kempenaer, a senior technical analyst at Stockcharts.com, expressed his view in an interview on CoinDesk TV’s First Mover show, stating that he anticipates Bitcoin may make a move toward the upper end of this range after having tested the lower boundary earlier this month. He added that his baseline scenario involves Bitcoin surpassing the $31,000-$32,000 level, but he emphasized that this should ideally occur within the next 6-8 weeks. Failing to do so may result in this level acting as a formidable resistance point, potentially hindering BTC’s price growth for an extended period.
“If it remains suppressed and stays below that threshold, it gains strength and becomes more challenging to breach,” he noted.