Solana’s SOL led gains in leading digital assets in the past 24 hours as risk-on sentiment pushed the market higher. PLUS: The impending U.S. election contributes to increased volatility, with some expecting more gains for bitcoin in the days ahead.
Bitcoin (BTC) neared $70,000 earlier Monday as bullish sentiment from the forthcoming U.S. elections gains more momentum among crypto traders.
BTC rose 1.5% in the past 24 hours, CoinDesk data shows, steadily rising through Sunday. The notional open interest on USD-denominated bitcoin futures across all tracked major exchanges crossed $40.63 billion over the weekend, setting a lifetime first.
In token terms, open interest was 592,000 BTC, the highest since December 2022 when the cryptocurrency traded below $20,000 amid a peak bearish sentiment.
Cash-margin open interest reached a new all-time high last week, with futures offered on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) accounting for 40% of the total as it crossed $11 billion on the bourse.
Open interest refers to unsettled futures bets and indicates new money entering the market. A rise in the metric, alongside a price increase, confirms an uptrend.
“The recent break of 68k was accompanied by about $2.4B in new BTC inflows over the past 6 sessions, along with a corresponding spike in BTC futures OI, which is a constructive indicator for new longs being established,” Augustine Fan, head of insights at the DeFi infrastructure firm SOFA, told CoinDesk in a Telegram message Monday.
Meanwhile, a critical open interest-based ratio tracked by CryptoQuant shows a sudden spike from 0.20 to 0.21 as BTC’s price rose by $2,000, indicative of increased leveraged bets on the asset.
A bump in leverage indicates increased risk tolerance, which may contribute to market volatility – and higher liquidations – in the coming weeks.
source:coindesk