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Bitcoin traders are hitting the sell button on Friday as the ether options market charges up lower prices.
- Bitcoin (BTC) traded around $ 11,674 at 20:00 UTC (16:00 ET). Down by 1.4% compared to the previous 24 hours.
- Bitcoin 24 hour range: $ 11,605- $ 11,892.
- BTC below its 10 and 50 day moving averages, a bearish sign for market technicians.
Read more: Open interest in Bitcoin options is nearing an all-time high
After holding around $ 11,800 from Thursday to Friday, bitcoin began to slide down around 08:00 UTC (4 am ET), dropping to a 24-hour low at $ 11.605. Spot volumes were lower to end the working week. It was $ 138 million on Coinbase’s leading USD / BTC spot exchange, lower than the average of $ 179 million over the past month.
Over-the-counter cryptocurrency trader Henrik Kugelberg expects a bullish, if not record fourth quarter, for bitcoin, even as the number of slow market days add up. “I expect a slower curve, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we hit a $ 15,000 BTC in October and somewhere around $ 18,000- $ 20,000 at the end of the year.”
Kugelberg points out that the uncertain economy provides reason for people to trade fiat for cryptocurrency investments. “The price of the falling dollar must be established; we haven’t seen the end of the dollar’s fall that’s for sure, ”he added. In fact, while the US dollar index, a measure of the greenback’s strength against a basket of other fiat currencies, is up 0.52% on Friday, it is still at a lows not seen since June 2018.
In the bitcoin options market, Neil Van Huis, director of sales and institutional trading at liquidity provider Blockfills, noted that volatility has eased this week. Bitcoin’s implied at-the-money volatility, which is a metric for predicting price movement, dropped from 71% on Monday to 59% on Friday. “It looks like a normalization of volatile trading lately,” Van Huis said.
The opportunities in Ethereum-based DeFi are taking some traders’ attention away from the bitcoin market, Kugelbrg told CoinDesk. “The crypto community is in a total FOMO for DeFi-related altcoins,” Kugelberg said. “I believe the bitcoin rush may be slower than expected and fueled by retail sales to newcomers who want a little more stable haven.”
Read more: Barstool’s Dave Portnoy is lousy at cryptocurrency trading
Bearish Ether Options Market
Ether (ETH) fell Friday, trading around $ 399 and slipping 3.8% in 24 hours at 20:00 UTC (16:00 ET).
Read more: Tron loses 23% of its $ 4.3 billion USD reserves to DeFi Hotbed Ethereum
The ether options market predicts that prices by the end of 2020 will not be much higher than they are now for the second largest cryptocurrency in the world. According to data aggregator Skew, the December 20 deadlines give Ether only a 25% chance of exceeding $ 520, a 38% chance of exceeding $ 420, and 41% of exceeding $ 400.
Despite the odds, Jean-Marc Bonnefous, managing partner of Tellurian Capital, which has invested in crypto projects since 2014, is still optimistic about Ether. He doesn’t see Ethereum’s core problems, such as network limiting taxes, as anything other than a speed boost on the fast-moving DeFi highway. “Structurally, no,” Bonnefous said. “But in the short term, the aether needs a new trigger to go higher.”
Read more: INX Crypto Exchange to launch $ 117M IPO next week
Other markets
Digital assets on CoinDesk 20 are mixed on Friday. Notable Winners at 8pm UTC (4pm ET):
- 0x (ZRX) + 26.2%
- straight (LSK) + 13.5%
- Qtum (Qtum) + 6.2%
Read more: 0x The price reaches a two-year high with hopes that Ethereum fees will sink into trading
Notable Losers at 20:00 UTC (16:00 ET):
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- Oil is down 1.1%. West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil Barrel Price: $ 42.24.
- Gold was 0.40% in the red and at $ 1.938 at press time.
Read more: US Congressman Tom Emmer will accept crypto donations for re-election
- US Treasuries were mixed on Friday. Yields, which move in the opposite direction to the price, increased more in the two-year period, in the green by 2.8%.
Read more: The companies say the first automated and AML-compliant Bitcoin transfer has been completed
