By
Steve Muchoki
May 6th, 2024
Ethereum saw a 5.6% fall on September 6, more than the 3.8% lost by Bitcoin. Cardano (ADA) is also down by 7.7% in the last 24 hours.
All eyes were on Bitcoin to claim at least half of its lost value after taking a rebound to $23,000. However, this expectation was short-lived as the asset took a quick nosedive to hit an intraday low of $19,020. Soon after this was found as worthy support, Bitcoin broke the level to hit a current price of $18,773, the lowest it has ever been since July 13. This was quite expected as the asset traded within a range of 5.4% last week, its narrowest range in two years.
The most interesting part of this fall is that it took just less than 24 hours for Bitcoin to fall from $19,820 to $18,960. The quick pullback has been linked to the $74 million in Bitcoin futures liquidations recorded at derivatives exchanges. This is the largest in almost three weeks. The move has nothing to do with traders exiting their Bitcoin positions to get all out on the altcoin as most of the prominent alternatives like Bitcoin SV were equally affected.
Ethereum saw a 5.6% fall on September 6, more than the 3.8% lost by Bitcoin. Cardano (ADA) is also down by 7.7% in the last 24 hours.
Analysts observe that retail traders have the usual behavior of avoiding quarterly futures. Based on previous records, indicators should trade at a 4% to 8% annualized premium in a healthy market. Because the Bitcoin futures premium has been below 3% for weeks now, derivative traders have obviously been neutral to bearish. In fact, professional traders have been avoiding leveraged long positions.
In addition, a 25% delta skew in the Bitcoin options market indicates any overcharging for upside or downside protection by market makers and arbitrage desks. According to analysts, options investors give higher odds for a price pump in the bear market. This explains why the skew indicator has risen above 12%. It is important to note that the 30-day delta skew since September 1 has been above the 12% threshold. This means options traders were not much interested in offering downside protection. It is suspected that this could be a partial reason for this liquidation.
The current happenings bring into memory the prediction of T3 Trading Group’s Scott Redle. He said that Bitcoin could hit $10,000 if the price falls to $17,600. Scott Minerd, global chief investment officer at Guggenheim Partners, also warned that the price could hit $8000 in the ongoing bearish cycle.