The latest moves in crypto markets, in context By Jamie Crawley, CoinDesk news reporter Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here. |
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It's Thursday! Here’s what you need to know today in crypto: |
- Bitcoin holds $40,000 ahead of $3.75 billion option expiry on Deribit.
- Crypto banking group closes $40 million funding round.
- Tesla's BTC holdings were unchanged in Q4.
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CoinDesk 20 Index: 1,562 −0.1%
Bitcoin (BTC): $40,122 −0.3%
Ether (ETC): $2,226 −0.7%
S&P 500: 4,868.55 +0.1%
Gold: $2,017 +0.1%
Nikkei 225: $2,017 +0.1% |
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Bitcoin treaded water around $40,000 during European trading hours, largely unmoved in the last 24 hours, down around 0.6%. "It's clear the market is steadily recovering from the initial shocks of the ETF introduction and GBTC unwind. Notably, call-put skew has been increasing from an earlier low, indicating a shift in market sentiment," Luuk Strijers, CCO at Deribit, said. Bitcoin options worth $3.75 billion expire on Deribit on Friday at 08:00 UTC. Strijers said traders have been rolling their positions forward from January expiry contracts to February expiry contracts. Data show the max pain point (the level at which options buyers stand to lose the most on expiry) for bitcoin's January expiry options is $41,000. The theory is that options sellers, usually institutions with ample capital supply, try to move the underlying spot market closer to the max pain point ahead of the expiry to inflict maximum damage on buyers. |
Swiss cryptocurrency banking group Sygnum closed a $40 million funding round, which gave it a $900 million valuation in a further sign of crypto winter 's thawing. The collapse of U.S. crypto-friendly banking firms Silvergate and Signature in early 2023 was one of many touchpoints of the 2022-23 bear market. “Closing a successful funding round in this macro environment with such strong partners is exciting, and we are thankful for our investors’ trust in us,” Mathias Imbach, Sygnum’s co-founder and CEO, said. Sygnum plans to use the proceeds to expand its offerings into European and Asian news markets. Tesla's bitcoin holdings remained unchanged in Q4 2023, according to the company's latest earnings report. The report didn't mention bitcoin, suggesting the company did not buy or sell any BTC in the last three months of the year. Tesla holds over 9,720 BTC, according to data tracked by Bitcoin Treasuries, and is the third-largest public holder of the asset behind MicroStrategy and mining firm Marathon. The firm acquired 43,000 BTC in 2021 for $1.5 billion in February 2021 but had sold 75% of these by Q2 2022. Tesla's remaining holdings are worth $387 million at current prices. |
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Market Insight: Ether Options Out of Sync With Bullish Sentiment |
The way ether options are priced suggests investor preference for bets that prices will fall, contradicting the bullish outlook presented by some analysts. Options tied to ether show bias for price weakness over three months, with a slight bias for strength in the subsequent months, according to Amberdata. Ether's one-week call-put skew, a gauge of demand for calls relative to puts expiring in seven days, fell to nearly -8 on Wednesday, the lowest in over three months, indicating a preference for bets that ether’s price will decline. “The sudden increase in ETH skew reflects the influence of call selling flows and the break of key technical support at $2,400, pushing prices towards $2,200," Imran Lakha, founder of Options Insights, said in a blog post on Deribit, the world’s leading crypto options exchange by volumes and open interest. |
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- The chart shows that the ether-bitcoin (ETH/BTC) ratio has reversed nearly half of the early January rally.
- The pullback is consistent with the bearish positioning in the ether options market.
- Some analysts are confident ether will be a standout performer in the coming months.
- Source: Trading View
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- Omkar Godbole We may earn a commission from partner links. Commissions do not affect our journalists’ opinions or evaluations. For more, see our Ethics Policy. |
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Grayscale is the world’s largest crypto asset manager*. We enable investors to access the digital economy through a family of regulated and future-forward investment products. Our decade-long track record and deep expertise as a crypto-specialist means that investors, advisors, and allocators turn to us for both investment insights and innovative products. Crypto investing begins with Grayscale. *By AUM as of 1/16/24. Investing involves risk and possible loss of principal. |
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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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