The latest moves in crypto markets, in context Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here. |
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Good morning, and welcome to First Mover. Here’s what’s happening this morning: - Market Moves: Bitcoin was higher on Thursday amid a broad-based rally across major cryptocurrencies. Many digital-asset traders, however, were instead fixated on the billionaire DOGE pumper (and Tesla CEO) Elon Musk's offer to buy Twitter. (Tron's Justin Sun also tried to work his way into the drama.)
- Featured Story: Bybit has passed CME to become the second-biggest bitcoin futures exchange by open interest, Lyllah Ledesma reports.
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. - Christine Kim, research associate, Galaxy Digital
- Noah Perlman, chief operating officer, Gemini
- Illia Polosukhin, co-founder, NEAR Protocol
- Adam Levine, head of corporate strategy, Fireblocks
Today’s newsletter was edited and produced by Bradley Keoun. Let us know what you think by replying to this email. |
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Bitcoin (BTC) was higher over the past 24 hours, changing hands around $41,100, with cryptocurrency prices higher across the board. All members of the CoinDesk 20 were trading in the green on Thursday. Ether, the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain, was up 2.4% despite this week's news that the network's much-anticipated "merge" – the proposed historic shift to a new, capital-based, proof-of-stake transaction-verification system from the current, energy-intensive, proof-of-work method – might not come in June as initially tipped. Marcus Sotiriou, a market analyst at GlobalBlock, noted in an email that blockchain data showed signs of selling by big crypto traders known as "whales." "At least four whales have sold their bitcoin," according to Sotiriou. "This may seem insignificant, but each of these addresses has sold more than $400 million worth of bitcoin. This is an important metric to look at because whales typically have the power to control the direction of the market." He added, however, that he was "still optimistic for the crypto market in the short term due to reaching extreme fear and negative sentiment." Bitcoin's recent price dip below $40,000 for the first time since mid-March had sparked some speculation that a deeper pullback might toward $30,000 might be in the offing. Whatever the price action in crypto markets, the story getting the most attention early Thursday was the billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk's offer to buy Twitter for about $41 billion. Musk has used Twitter in the past to promote dogecoin (DOGE). Another blockchain founder, Tron's Justin Sun, tweeted soon afterward that he would offer $60 a share for the company, higher than Musk's $54.20-a-share offer detailed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. |
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The following are the biggest movers in the CoinDesk 20 digital assets over the past 24 hours: |
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Top Gainers Top Losers There are no losers in CoinDesk 20 today. |
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Sector classifications are provided via the Digital Asset Classification Standard (DACS), developed by CoinDesk Indices to provide a reliable, comprehensive, and standardized classification system for digital assets. The CoinDesk 20 is a ranking of the largest digital assets by volume on trusted exchanges. |
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Bybit Replaces CME as Second-Largest Futures Exchange by Open Interest By Lyllah Ledesma |
Bybit now ranks second among bitcoin futures exchanges. (Skew) |
Bybit, a cryptocurrency exchange with over 2 million registered users, has overtaken the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) as the second-largest futures exchange by open interest (OI), according to data from Skew. Open interest is the total number of outstanding derivative contracts, such as options or futures held by market participants at the end of a day. Open interest measures the total level of activity into the futures market. Bybit currently has $2.48 billion in BTC futures OI, whereas CME currently has $2.3 billion, according to data from Skew. “Both retail and institutional investors tend to choose Bybit for its high liquidity, low spread and outstanding reliability when the battle between longs and shorts heat up,” said a Bybit representative in an email with CoinDesk. Mike Schwitalla, a senior trader at Crypto Finance AG, said that a contributing factor to Bybit surpassing CME is the fact that Bybit’s leverage is much higher than on CME. According to Matthew Dibb, Stack Funds' co-founder and chief operating officer, Bybit has become the go-to venue for high leverage trading of bitcoin futures. “When Bybit's OI is increasing, it generally means that retail traders are using heavy margin to directionally trade,” said Dibb in an interview with CoinDesk. “The other side of this is that in the event that there is a substantial liquidation day, Bybit usually has the highest number of traders and ($) value liquidations of any exchange,” he added. Open interest spike on Bybit |
Open interest on September futures reached $1.9 billion (Bybit) |
Joshua Lim, head of derivatives at Genesis Global Trading, said there’s been a lot of speculation amongst traders over Bybit flipping CME in terms of OI. (Genesis is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which also owns CoinDesk.) There was a large spike in BTC September futures that occurred on April 7, 2022, which has been unwound, according to Lim. Open interest on the September futures got as high as $1.9 billion, but now sits at $677 million. “Some traders were speculating that it was related to an exchange update that was rolled out to algo market-makers and others were speculating that it was related to some kind of basis trade being executed,” said Lim in a Telegram conversation with CoinDesk. |
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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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