bitcoin rose to a one-month high of $71,800, effectively dismissing the risk-off sentiment that has restrained the rise of US stocks over the past week.
The largest cryptocurrency stalled just below $72,000, a level it last reached on February 8 before falling back to $65,000.
Precious metals also rose on Wednesday, with gold and silver rising 1.8% and 5.3%, respectively, as of midnight UTC. Bitcoin is up 4.8% over the same period.
The decision to protect assets comes as war continues to rage in the Middle East, with Israel saying it attacked several security barracks across Iran, while Iran attacked US sites in Dubai and Qatar.
Shares are little changed since midnight, lagging the broader crypto market.
Derivatives positioning
- In the last 24 hours, global crypto futures open interest (OI) has increased by 8% to nearly $103 billion. Trading volume also increased, although less than the OI, indicating renewed interest in holding positions rather than trading in and out. That adds credibility to the price rebound.
- Open interest in futures tied to the top 10 tokens increased. DOGE led with a 10% increase.
- Perpetual funding rates and cumulative volume delta for most major cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin and ether, are positive, a sign that buying pressure is increasing in another indication of a continued price recovery.
- Bitcoin and Ethereum (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 put options remain noticeably more expensive than call options, in a sign of persistent bearish fears.
- The $125,000 strike option expiring at the end of March, a bet that prices will surpass that level in four weeks, is the most traded option of the last 24 hours. Deribit said that most of the activity represents the closing of existing short positions rather than new purchases (bullish bets).
- Block flows featured demand for bitcoin call spreads and call index spreads, a sign of moderate bullish sentiment. In the case of ETH, traders looked for both buy and sell spreads.
symbolic talk
- The altcoin market is starting to show signs of strength after almost a month of consolidation. Ether (ETH) is up 5% since midnight UTC, with daily trading volume holding steady at $25 billion.
- But it was the tokens with lower liquidity and lower market capitalization that outperformed the main ones; KITE, AERO and TAO are up by double digits in the last 24 hours, while companies like PUMP and DCR are up around 6% since midnight UTC.
- The Fear and Greed Crypto Index has risen from multi-year lows of 5/100 in February to 19/100, suggesting that a measure 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.
