Bitcoin rose to a one-month high of $71,800, effectively negating the risk-off sentiment that has limited upside in US stocks over the past week.
The largest cryptocurrency stalled just below $72,000, a level it last reached on February 8 before slipping back to $65,000.
Precious metals were also up on Wednesday, with gold and silver up 1.8% and 5.3% respectively since midnight UTC. Bitcoin is up 4.8% over the same period.
The move to safe havens comes as war continues to rage in the Middle East, with Israel saying it hit several security headquarters in Iran, while Iran attacked US sites in Dubai and Qatar.
Shares are little changed since midnight, lagging the broader crypto market.
Derivatives positioning
- Over the past 24 hours, global crypto futures open interest (OI) has increased by 8% to nearly $103 billion. Trading volume also increased, albeit by less than OI, indicating renewed interest in holding positions rather than trading in and out. It adds credibility to the price increase.
- Open interest in futures linked to the top 10 tokens increased. DOGE led with an increase of 10%.
- Perpetual funding rates and cumulative volume delta for most major cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin and ether, are positive, a sign that buying pressure is building in another hint of continued price recovery.
- Bitcoin and ether’s (ETH) 30-day implied volatility indices remain stable at levels seen before the start of the Middle East conflict, a sign that there is no panic in the market.
- On Deribit, BTC and ETH are still trading significantly more expensive than calls as a sign of continued downside fears.
- The $125,000 strike call that expires at the end of March, a bet that prices will rise beyond that level in four weeks, is the most traded option of the past 24 hours. Deribit said the bulk of the activity represents closing of existing short positions rather than new purchases (bullish bets).
- Block flows highlighted demand for bitcoin call spreads and call ratio spreads, a sign of moderate bullish sentiment. In ETH’s case, traders were chasing both call and put spreads.
Token talk
- The altcoin market is starting to show signs of strength after nearly a month of consolidation. Ether (ETH) rose 5% since midnight UTC, with daily trading volume remaining steady at $25 billion.
- But it was tokens with lower liquidity and lower market cap that outperformed the big ones; KITE, AERO and TAO are all up by double digits in the past 24 hours, while PUMP and DCR are up around 6% since midnight UTC.
- The Crypto Fear and Greed Index has risen from multi-year lows of 5/100 in February to 19/100, suggesting that some level of optimism is entering the broader crypto market.
- The CoinDesk Computing Select Index (CPUS) was the best-performing benchmark over the past 24 hours, rising 7%, while the BTC-weighted CoinDesk 20 (CD20) rose around 5% over the same period.
