Bitcoin calmed down in Asia on Thursday, trading at $68,600 after testing $70,000 in a fierce session in the United States on Wednesday.
As February draws to a close, the largest cryptocurrency remains in a trading range that has persisted since the start of the month, having tested $62,500 on Tuesday and $71,100 on the upside on February 15.
It is worth noting that Bitcoin broke through a similar trading range higher in January, trapping traders before the price fell from $98,000 to $60,000 over the next three weeks, forming a low in this recent bear cycle.
A few tokens have overshadowed the broader altcoin market. HYPE is up 4.3% since midnight UTC as it moves back towards $30, while decreasing privacy tokens (DCR) hit their highest level since November after adding 4%.
U.S. stock index futures were little changed as NVIDIA’s earnings report failed to generate sustained upside due to lingering concerns that AI’s valuation is overblown.
Positioning of derivative products
- The crypto futures market’s total open interest (OI) increased by over 6.6% to nearly $100 billion. This is larger than the increase in the total crypto market cap, indicating that there has been an influx of new capital into the market.
- ADA and ETH futures stand out with OI increases of 21% and 15%, respectively. Several other altcoins saw a 9% increase.
- The over 3% growth in Bitcoin’s OI appears to be largely driven by the rising spot price.
- BTC and ETH’s 30-day implied volatility indices, BVIV and EVIV, remain near weekly lows, indicating market calm and supporting continued price gains.
- Annualized perpetual funding rates for most tokens, including bitcoin and ether, have stabilized slightly above zero, indicating a new bias for long and bullish bets.
- On Deribit, the bitcoin price rebound triggered demand for call options priced from $85,000 to $90,000. However, the overall options market continues to show a preference for puts, a sign that downside reserves persist.
- The $60,000 put remains the most popular bet, with notional open interest of over $1.4 billion.
Symbolic discussion
- Layer 1 token posted a 21% gain in the last 24 hours. While this decision lost steam during European hours, investors are showing interest in the halving of network rewards planned for March.
- Uniswap’s governance token (UNI) also surged, adding 15%. The move can be attributed to a new governance vote that proposes increasing the protocol’s revenue capture across multiple Layer 2 networks.
- One particularly underperforming token was which lost more than 6%, with the sale continuing until European opening hours. There is no clear bearish catalyst for this move, reflecting the altcoin’s continued vulnerability due to a lack of liquidity.
- Crypto Majors and ether (ETH) are up about 8.5% since Wednesday morning. According to Coinalyze, these moves were intriguing as open interest in both assets increased, suggesting they were supported by leverage rather than spot purchases.
