Whale-Driven Surge

The latest moves in crypto markets, in context

Edited by Omkar Godbole

October 20, 2021

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Bitcoin (BTC)

+2.65% $63,820

Ether (ETH)

+1.59% $3,859

(Price data as of October 20 @ 11:30 UTC)

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Good morning, Here's what's happening this morning:

Market Moves: Bitcoin's Whale-Driven Surge

Technician's Take: Ether Awaits Price Breakout

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:

– Omkar Godbole

Biggest Movers

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

Top Gainers:

Top Losers:

Dogecoin (DOGE): -1.2%

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

Bitcoin was trading a whisker away from its lifetime high of $64,889 in the wake of ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF's impressive debut on Nasdaq on Tuesday.

The futures-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) brought in $570 million of assets and registered a trading volume of $1 billion on the first day, becoming the second-most heavily traded new ETF on record, according to Bloomberg. Futures ETFs by Valkyrie and VanEck are slated to go live sometime later this month.

The demand is expected to be strong in first few weeks, as CF Benchmark's Sui Chung told First Mover on Tuesday. With the bar of expectations set high, any sign of weakness in trading volume or inflows in the coming days could bring some selling pressure to the market.

In traditional markets, the S&P 500 futures traded flat as Democrats in U.S. Congress moved closer to agreement on ways to trim spending. According to Reuters, the Biden administration is looking to scale back size of the spending bill to $2 trillion from $3.5 trillion.

Whale-Driven Surge

Bitcoin whales have been at it again. Blockchain data shows these large traders have propelled bitcoin higher from $40,000 to $64,000 this month.

The volume of BTC/USDT trading spiked to “abnormally high levels” between Oct. 9 and Oct. 10 on Binance, Clara Medalie, research lead at Kaiko, told CoinDesk's markets reporter Muyao Shen.

Binance market's share also spiked around the same time, with the average trade size on the exchange reaching a multi-month high of $2,500 from $2,000.

"On Oct. 10, as buy orders on Binance exceeded sell orders between 2:00 UTC and 5:00 UTC, bitcoin’s price went up to around $56,000 from $54,000," Shen noted.

Bitcoin's options market has come alive amid the whale-driven rally. On Tuesday, open interest or the number of option contracts traded but not squared off with an offsetting position rose to a six-month high of 229,220 BTC, marking a 50% increase since late September.

The pick-up in options activity in the days leading up to the binary event – the SEC’s decision on ETF proposal – signifies increased participation by sophisticated investors and market maturity.

Also read:

Demand Spike on Binance Played Key Role in Bitcoin Rally: Kaiko

Technician's Take

by Omkar Godbole

Ether Awaits Price Breakout

Ether, the native token of Ethereum's blockchain, lags bitcoin as the latter nears a record high price.

Bitcoin's 4-hour chart Source: TradingView)

Ether is yet to take out the falling trendline drawn from May and September highs. Bitcoin cleared similar resistance two weeks ago and ended Tuesday above $64,000 – its highest daily close ever.

Read the original story here:

Ether Awaits Price Breakout After Bitcoin’s Record Daily Close

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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:

A Big Day for Crypto: ProShares to Launch First U.S. Bitcoin Futures ETF ‘BITO’ on New York Stock Exchange

"First Mover" team dives into the top stories moving the crypto markets today. ProShares is launching the first bitcoin futures ETF in the U.S. "BITO" on the New York Stock Exchange today. Bitcoin price breaks the $62K resistance level on this news. Anderson Kill Partner Preston Byrne, MarketGauge Group Managing Partner Michele Schneider and Chamber of Digital Commerce Chief Policy Officer Teana Baker-Taylor join the discussions.

A Message from CoinDesk

What will 2022 bring? Crypto 2022 is CoinDesk’s ambitious effort to scope out what’s next. This week it's Policy Week, a week devoted to exploring the complex ways governments are interacting with the cryptocurrency ecosystem, and how policy decisions or lack thereof will affect the year ahead. Read more here.

Latest Headlines

According to ProShares, the fund’s sponsor, the new ETF’s assets shot to $570 million from $20 million on its first day of trading.

For $200, You Can Trade Crypto With a Fake ID

A black market is flourishing for “verified” accounts on major exchanges including Coinbase Pro and Binance US, a CoinDesk investigation found.

A group of Democrat senators is taking umbrage with a pilot launch involving Novi and Paxos’ USDP stablecoin.

One company is already doing so, but the regulations remain unclear.

JD Technology is offering free NFTs to people who sign up for its conference.

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.

First Mover

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