BTC Traders Seek Downside Protection

The latest moves in crypto markets, in context

Edited by Omkar Godbole

October 11, 2021

Sponsored by

Bitcoin (BTC)

+2% $56,270

Ether (ETH)

+0.10% $3,564

(Price data as of October 11 @ 11:00 UTC)

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Good morning, and welcome to First Mover. Here's what's happening this morning:

Market Moves: Bitcoin's Options Market Shows Mixed Sentiment

And check out the CoinDesk TV show "First Mover," hosted by Christine Lee, Emily Parker and Lawrence Lewitinn at 9:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern time. Today's show will feature guests:

Kapil Rathi, Co-Founder and CEO at Crosstower

Samson Mow, CSO at Blockstream

Tad Park, CEO at Volt Equity

– Omkar Godbole

Biggest Movers

These are the biggest movers in the CoinDesk 20 over the past 24 hours:

Gainers:

Losers:

Polygon (MATIC): -3.7%

EOS (EOS): -3.5%

The CoinDesk 20 are 20 digital assets filtered from the larger universe of thousands of cryptocurrencies and constitute roughly 99% of the market by volume at eight of the largest and most trustworthy exchanges.

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Market Moves

by Omkar Godbole

Optimism that U.S. regulators would approve as many as four futures-based bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) this month continues to shelter bitcoin from the dour mood in traditional markets.

The cryptocurrency jumped to a fresh four-month high of $57,000 early Monday, having flipped resistance at $53,000 into support last week. Crypto investors are currently paying little heed to lingering concerns that the Federal Reserve (Fed) may scale back stimulus faster than expected amid heightened fears of stagflation – a combination of low growth and relatively high inflation. The Bank of England is now leaning hawkish.

However, risk sentiment has come under pressure in traditional markets. The S&P 500 are signaling a negative start to trade later Monday with a 0.30% drop as the safe-haven dollar remains bid. Meanwhile, oil continues to rally, boosting inflation scare.

Continued negative newsflow out of China may add to short-term pain. According to Bloomberg, credit spreads on Chinese corporate dollar bonds hit an all-time high during Asian hours, as cash-strapped property giant Evergrande prepared for another default.

Whether bitcoin will remain resilient to the potential worsening of risk aversion is anybody's guess.

Focus on put-call skews

That said, the short-term sentiment in bitcoin's options market has flipped bearish.

The one-week and one-month put-call skews have turned positive again, indicating renewed demand for downside protection or put options. The long-term bias remains bullish, with three- and six-month skews still below zero.

Ether's put-call skews also exhibit short-term bearish bias.

Perhaps someone out there is not as optimistic about an ETF approval as the broader market or expecting traditional market risk-off to feed into crypto markets.

From a technical analysis perspective, bitcoin's potential failure to keep gains above $56,000, which acted as a stiff resistance in the past four days, would be taken to represent temporary uptrend exhaustion.

Bitcoin's put-call skews (Source: Skew)

Read the original story here:

Bitcoin Makes a Push for $57K as Fed Taper Fears Linger

Technician's Take

by Damanick Dantes

Bitcoin Approaching Resistance Near $58K

Bitcoin (BTC) continues to rise near $56,000, although the rally appears to be exhausted given overbought signals on the charts.

Bitcoin's 4-hour chart with relative strength index (Source: TradingView)

The relative strength index (RSI) on the four-hour chart is declining from an overbought extreme last week. A negative divergence between the RSI and price typically leads to a brief pullback similar to mid-Sept.

Momentum has improved over the past two weeks, which means pullbacks could be limited toward initial support at $50,000.

Read the original story here:

Bitcoin Approaching Resistance Near $58K; Support at $50K

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BOLO

Be on the lookout for the following events today:

ICYMI

In case you missed it, here are the most recent episodes of "First Mover" on CoinDesk TV:

Fmr CFTC Chairman Massad on Why Regulating Stablecoins Isn’t Just About Avoiding Systemic Risk

"First Mover" is joined by former CFTC Chairman Timotthy Massad as stablecoin regulation comes into focus. Bitcoin briefly breaks $56K Friday, COSIMO Ventures' Co-founder and Managing Partner Rob Frasca provides his take on Bitcoin's most recent bull run. Plus, CoinDesk Managing Editor for Global Policy & Regulation Nikhilesh De shares the latest news on stablecoin regulations.

A Message from CoinDesk

While the pandemic has stunted some industries, fintech development and adoption have accelerated. Join executives from across the financial and technology sectors at Accelerate Finance: Money in a Mobile World on Oct. 13 to understand what's next in tech and how consumer expectations are driving change. Register now.

Latest Headlines

Sign-In With Ethereum Is Coming

The dangers of letting Facebook control your online identity are clear. One alternative would use your Ethereum wallet instead, and let you control your own data.

Who Bought $1.6B in Bitcoin Wednesday, and Why?

It’s an eerie coincidence that a trade of this size happened on exchanges with ties to Chinese customers during a week beset by that country’s capital market woes.

Airdrop Ethics: VC Firm Draws Ire Following $2.5M Ribbon Finance Exploit

The DeFi community has once again found itself embroiled in a debate concerning the nature of on-chain ethics.

Tether Has Loaned $1B to Celsius Network: Report

The stablecoin issuer has loaned billions of dollars to crypto companies, according to a Bloomberg investigation.

Buzz Around Shiba Inu Is Nowhere Close to Retail Frenzy Seen in May

Web data shows SHIB’s latest rally has yet to catch the attention of the general public.

Bitcoin Miner Bitfury Plans to Go Public With Value in ‘Billions of Pounds:’ Report

The company’s is reportedly valued around $1 billion with investors including Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital.

Bitcoin Futures Premium on CME Surges, Hinting At Institutional Demand

A futures-based ETF, if approved, could bring more buying pressure for the CME futures.

Crypto Miners Hoarding Bitcoins as Price Surges Above $55K

Riot Blockchain, Marathon Digital and Hut 8 have all been “hodling” the bitcoin they’ve mined in September.

Disclaimer: The information presented in this message is intended as a news item that provides a brief summary of various events and developments that affect, or that might in the future affect, the value of one or more of the cryptocurrencies described above. The information contained in this message, and any information liked through the items contained herein, is not intended to provide sufficient information to form the basis for an investment decision. The information presented herein is accurate only as of its date, and it was not prepared by a research analyst or other investment professional. You should seek additional information regarding the merits and risks of investing in any cryptocurrency before deciding to purchase or sell any such instruments.

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