Record Shorts

Cash Trade Is Back

The latest moves in crypto markets, in context Edited by Omkar Godbole October 26, 2021 Sponsored by     Bitcoin (BTC) +0.30%  $62,960 Ether (ETH)  +2.26%  $4,225 (Price data as of October 26 @ 11:30 UTC) If you were forwarded this newsletter and would like to receive it, sign up here.  Good morning, Here's what's happening this morning: Market Moves: Leveraged Funds Boost Record Bets on Bitcoin Technician's Take: MATIC Hits Highest Since Early June 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: Alice Fulwood, Wall Street Correspondent  Josh Rogers, Founder and CEO Minterest – Omkar Godbole Biggest Movers These are the biggest movers in the CoinDesk 20 over the past 24 hours:   Top Gainers: Aave (AAVE): +8.9% Polygon (MATIC): +8.6% Uniswap (UNI): +6.4% Top Losers:  There are no losers in CoinDesk 20 today 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. A message from Bybit We're giving away up to $3,000 in bonuses to each Bybit user! All you have to do is join the community and make a first ever deposit. The more you deposit, the higher your rewards.    Plus, stand a chance to win 0.1 BTC or 1 ETH when you trade at least $100,000 in Spot and Derivatives combined. T&Cs apply.    Event ends Nov. 18, 2021, 10AM UTC.  Market Moves by Omkar Godbole Bitcoin traded near $63,000 early Tuesday and looked north as futures tied to Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 125 points, signaling a strong risk appetite in traditional markets and inflation expectations continued to surge across Europe.    Blockchain metrics favored the bullish case in the top cryptocurrency, with the balance held on centralized exchanges tallying 2.43 million, a fresh three-year low, according to data provided by Glassnode. The data points to decreased selling pressure in the market.    "There has been a minor loss of short-term momentum near resistance, but we expect the consolidation phase to refresh the rally with no signs of exhaustion having arisen on bitcoin's chart," Katie Stockton, founder and managing partner of Fairlead Strategies, said in a weekly research note published Monday.    Bitcoin saw a minor pullback to nearly $60,000 over the weekend, having surged to a new record high of $66,975 early last week on optimism generated by ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF's impressive debut on the New York Stock Exchange.   Alternative cryptocurrencies like Polygon's MATIC token, ether and a few coins associated with the decentralized finance protocols were flashing relatedly bigger gains than bitcoin.    Activity in the ether market could pick up the pace as Ethereum developers are set to implement the Altair upgrade on Wednesday, which is widely expected to make Ethereum much greener and faster.    Ether's options market is biased bullish ahead of the upgrade, with short duration and long duration calls or bullish bets drawing higher prices than puts or bearish bets.  Record Bitcoin Bearish Bets Bitcoin's MVRV Z-score (Source: Glassnode) The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) Commitments of Traders report released on Friday showed leveraged funds held a net short position of 31,000 contracts in the seven days to Oct. 19, marking an increase of 6,000 from the previous week.   Record shorts do not necessarily mean traders had a bearish bias. They may have raised short positions in the futures market and simultaneously bought the cryptocurrency in the spot market, booking the so-called carry trade to profit from the widening gap between prices in futures and spot markets. Read the full story here: CME Leveraged Funds Raise Bets Against Bitcoin to Record High as Futures Premium Spikes Technician's Take by Omkar Godbole MATIC Hits Highest Since Early June Scaling solution Polygon's MATIC token has crossed key resistance at $1.8 to hit the highest level in nearly five months. MATIC's daily price chart (Source: TradingView) A UTC close above $1.8 would strengthen the bullish case put forward by the triangle breakout confirmed earlier this month and perhaps bring more chart-driven buyers. Major resistance is seen at $2.43.  A Message from Chainalysis Looking for your ticket #ToTheMoon? 🚀   Market Intel by Chainalysis - the blockchain data platform - arms you with the most complete on-chain dataset for crypto research and investment decisions.   Whether you're an Asset Manager searching for a signal...   A Quant Analyst interested in spotting market trends...   Or a VC looking to fund the next emerging crypto player...   Market Intel will help you reach your goals, utilizing 53 metrics across 10 categories—like whales, exchanges, liquidity, and supply. To get started, head to markets.chainalysis.com. BOLO Be on the lookout for the following events today: 14:00 UTC (09:30 a.m. ET): U.S. New Home Sales (Sep) 14:00 UTC (09:30 a.m. ET): U.S. Consumer Confidence (Oct) ICYMI In case you missed it, here are the most recent episodes of "First Mover" on CoinDesk TV:   Nigeria Central Bank Digital Currency eNaira Goes Live Today, Matt West Becomes First DeFi Developer to Run for Congress   "First Mover" hosts discuss today's hot topics: Olumide Adesina, a Nigeria-based certified Investment Trader and CoinDesk Contributor, shares insights into the launch of eNaira, Nigeria's central bank digital currency, and David Nage of crypto asset manager Arca and Haseeb Qureshi of Dragonfly Capital, weigh in on market movements as bitcoin holds steady above $60K. Plus, what Matt West, the first DeFi developer to run for Congress, has to say about his platform as he runs for Oregon's congressional 6th District as a Democrat.    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 Crypto Fund Inflows Hit Record $1.5B as Bitcoin Futures ETFs Go Live Bitcoin dominated this week's inflows, with a 99% share. Last week, bitcoin's weekly inflows were at $70 million. Bakkt Shares Surge 180% After Pacts With Mastercard, Fiserv for Crypto Payments In true crypto fashion, two partnership announcements are causing BKKT to soar. Fractional-Algorithmic Stablecoin Protocol Frax's Governance Token FXS Surges 80% on Supply Squeeze 75% of all circulating FXS supply is locked away for an average 1.08 years, one analyst said. Tether Partners With Identity Startup Notabene on Travel Rule Compliance The partnership aims to combat money laundering in cross-border exchange-to-exchange transactions. UK Regtech Firm ComplyAdvantage Adds Elliptic to Its Crypto Compliance Suite ComplyAdvantage is already working with crypto firms like Paxos and Gemini, but mainly on the fiat AML side of things. 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 A newsletter from CoinDesk Copyright © 2021 CoinDesk, All rights reserved.  250 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10003, USA Manage your newsletter subscriptions  |  Unsubscribe from all CoinDesk email