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Derivatives activity surrounding XRP has surged sharply this week, with futures open interest climbing to $4.77 billion, its highest level since May 24, according to the latest CoinGlass data.  At the time of writing, XRP is trading at $2.31, reflecting a 1.22% decline over the past 24 hours and a 1.63% dip on the week, marking a notable uptick in trader positioning despite a minor decline in the underlying token’s spot price.  However, the growing open interest signals that market participants remain highly engaged, even as price consolidates. XRP futures open interest. Source: CoinGlass What futures open interest means for XRP Open interest in futures markets represents the total value of outstanding derivative contracts that have not yet been settled or closed. In other words, it tracks the number of active long and short positions in the market at any given time. A rising open interest, particularly when accompanied by growing volume, typically reflects...

YieldMax, a firm specializing in exchange-traded funds (ETFs), has filed to launch a novel yield-bearing ETF based on shares of Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin (BTC) holding company, MicroStrategy. According to a Dec. 7 filing with the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the proposed ETF, named Option Income Strategy ETF, is scheduled for a 2024 release and will trade under the ticker MSTY. This ETF employs a “synthetic covered call” strategy, which involves a combination of buying call options and selling put options to generate income. This income is then planned to be distributed monthly to MSTY ETF holders. Interestingly, the ETF will not hold any spot MicroStrategy shares but will solely focus on trading MSTR derivatives . To mitigate risks, the fund will cap its monthly gains from call options at 15%. This strategy means that the monthly yields from the ETF are not directly tied to the performance of MicroStrategy’s stock. Therefore, investors co...

Bitcoin spiking above $27,200 amid a big jump in open interest has some analysts asking whether BTC price is being manipulated. Bitcoin's (BTC) open interest on derivatives exchanges experienced a sudden surge of $1 billion on Sep. 18, prompting investors to question whether whales were accumulating in anticipation of the unsealing of Binance's court filings. However, a closer look at derivatives metrics suggests a more nuanced picture, as the funding rate did not exhibit clear signs of excessive buying demand. The decision to unseal these documents was granted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which had accused Binance of non-cooperation despite previously agreeing to a consent order related to unregistered securities operations and other allegations. BTC futures aggregate open interest, USD (green, left). Source: CoinGlass The open interest spiked to $12.1 billion while Bitcoin's price concurrently increased by 3.4%, the highest point in over two w...

ETH price is finding support at $1,560 and multiple data points are beginning to hint at a possible rally to $1,800 before the end of February. Ether (ETH) has been struggling with the $1,680 resistance since Jan. 20. Still, the ascending triangle pattern and improvements in investor sentiment in ETH derivatives provides hope that Ether price could reach $1,800 or higher by the end of February. This, of course, depends on how the Ether price behaves as it reaches the pattern deadline by mid-February.  Ether/USD price index, 12-hour. Source: TradingView From one side, traders are relieved that Ether is trading up 33% year-to-date, but the repeated failures to break the $1,680 resistance coupled with negative newsflow might give bears the power to cancel the bullish triangle pattern. According to a Jan. 30 report from Axios, New York State's Department of Financial Services is reportedly investigating Cryptocurrency Exchange Gemini over claims that the firm made regarding assets in...