Market Wrap: Bitcoin Exceeds $ 19.4K; Deribit Ether options Volume peaks

How much can the price of bitcoin go up? Analysts say the higher the price, the more investors will invest. Meanwhile, the increased volume of ether options on Deribit will likely make derivatives more expensive.

Bitcoin’s price topped $ 19,000 on Tuesday, hitting $ 19,392, according to data from CoinDesk 20. Its price lost some steam after that, but bounced back to $ 18,987 at press time.

Read more: Bitcoin surpasses $ 19K, the new all-time high seems imminent

“We could test an all-time high today,” said Rupert Douglas, head of institutional sales for cryptocurrency broker Koine. “We had such a strong run-up that I would have tried to take profits.”

Bitcoin’s record price was $ 19,738 on December 18, 2017, according to CoinDesk 20 historical data on bitcoins.

“Bitcoin is rapidly approaching all-time highs, with 2017’s final resistance at hand,” noted Katie Stockton, technical analyst at Fairlead Strategies. “There are some signs of exhaustion, but they aren’t usable unless a loss of momentum develops.”

With over $ 1.6 billion at press time, momentum in the form of USD / BTC volumes on five major exchanges combined is set for another bumper day. Tuesday is shaping up to be the second highest in the past month as days with billions of dollars in volume for the five trades are becoming more common.

Global equities are also experiencing a bullish day, with indices flashing green prominently:

Since the start of the year unrelated to the S&P 500 – which is shown as “0” in the chart below – bitcoin’s performance has been more like stock since the March slump as assets fell due to COVID concerns. -19. The correlation coefficient of the two on a 90 day basis is now about 0.3.

An optimistic economic environment has given both the shares and the risk-on properties of bitcoin as an investment asset.

“Bitcoin has now moved into risk-based trading alongside equity markets,” noted Jason Lau, chief operating officer of San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange OKCoin.

Analysts predict that $ 20,000 for 1 BTC will come soon, which could produce some profit-induced selling but also more bullish buying, according to Rich Rosenblum, head of trading at cryptocurrency firm GSR.

“Hitting $ 20,000 is likely to bring some profit taking,” Rosenblum noted. “However, reaching a new all-time high will also bring validation for bitcoin, which could spur further purchases once we are firmly above $ 20,000. Once a new high is reached, every bitcoin investor will be in the money.”

Ether (ETH), the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, rose on Tuesday, trading around $ 604 and climbing 1.6% in 24 hours at 21:00 UTC (16:00 ET).

Read more: Ethereum 2.0 Genesis Day is officially set for December 1st

With 198,247 traded contracts in total, Monday was the second most important day of 2020 for Deribit ether option contracts, according to data aggregator Genesis Volatility. The first day was September 1, when the total of contracts reached 201,815.

Greg Magadini, chief executive of data aggregator Genesis Volatility, says that all of this action on Deribit, the largest derivatives home in the crypto ecosystem, means that the costs associated with ether options have gone up.

“With this rally we are seeing a lot of options buying going on,” Magadini noted. “This is pushing implied volatility up a lot. The total price of the options adjusted for various parameters such as expiry, strike, etc. Increased. “

The digital assets on CoinDesk 20 are all green Tuesday. Notable Winners at 9pm UTC (4pm ET):

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