Bitcoin Remains Below 1% Gain as Ether and Broader Market Rise
Bitcoin (BTC) rose less than 1% over the past 24 hours, with expectations of closing August in the red for the fourth consecutive year. However, it recorded its best August performance since 2021. Options worth over $14.6 billion are set to expire soon, with a "max pain" level at $116,000, suggesting possible upward price movement.
The CoinDesk 20 Index increased by 3.2%, while the CoinDesk 80 rose by 4%. Bitcoin's 200-day moving average has crossed above $100,000, indicating a strong long-term uptrend.
Derivatives Positioning
- Bitcoin open interest (OI) across top venues has decreased, aligning with recent price drops, now at $30.3 billion.
- Three-month annualized basis remains profitable at 8%-9% across exchanges.
- Implied volatility indicates expected long-term volatility is higher than short-term.
- Recent shifts in market sentiment show traders paying premiums for puts over calls.
- Put/call volume reflects bearish sentiment, with a skew towards puts as traders hedge against declines.
- Funding rate APRs across major perpetual swap venues are around 8%-10% annualized.
- Negative funding on Binance briefly occurred before returning to around 10%, indicating mixed sentiments.
- Liquidations totaled $266 million in 24 hours, with 58% skewed towards shorts; BTC liquidations amounted to $47 million.
Token Talk
- Cronos (CRO) surged over 56% after Crypto.com and Trump Media announced a $6.4 billion CRO treasury company.
- Crypto treasury announcements have increased, following trends set by Michael Saylor's strategy.
- Despite bullish events, some tokens like TON have seen price declines immediately after similar announcements.
- This CRO deal provides a new use case for the token, previously limited to exchange functions.
- The initiative includes a rewards system allowing users to convert “gems” into CRO tokens and make payments using CRO.
- CRO’s trading volume surged by 1,300% to over $1 billion, indicating strong market activity despite overall crypto stagnation.