Bitcoin

Bitcoin: How whales are helping BTC stay above $70K

CME accounted for more than 30% of all investments made into Bitcoin derivatives.

Published

9 months ago

March 12, 2024

Edited By: Saman Waris

CME’s OI in Bitcoin Futures has more than doubled since the year began.
A higher percentage of whales’ positions were long on Bitcoin.

After wiggling around previous peaks during the weekend, Bitcoin [BTC] made a decisive move past $70k to record what could be the first of many new highs it would encounter in the coming months.

At press time, the prized digital asset was trading at $72k with gains of nearly 4% in the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap

The rally continued to build on robust and rapidly growing institutional interest in cryptos.

Open Interest on CME breaks $10 billion

According to AMBCrypto’s examination of Coinglass’ data, the Open Interest (OI) on the world’s largest Bitcoin futures exchange, CME, rose 3.89% in the last 24 hours to top $10 billion for the very first time.

The OI has more than doubled since the beginning of 2024.

Source: Coinglass

For the uninitiated, CME’s standard Futures contract is worth five BTCs and is regarded as a barometer of institutional interest in cryptocurrencies.

As of this writing, it accounted for more than 30% of all investments made into Bitcoin derivatives, with Binance coming in second at 22%.

Spot ETFs hog the limelight

The high degree of speculative interest comes as institutional investors gain easier access to Bitcoin through the recently launched spot ETFs.

According to AMBCrypto’s analysis of SoSo Value’s data, the new ETFs have witnessed a cumulative trading volume of $7.69 billion since their listing.

Moreover, nearly $9.59 billion worth of Bitcoins were backing these ETFs as of the 8th of March.

Whales increase Bitcoin exposure

Growing institutional interest was also evident in the steady increase in whale holdings.

As per AMBCrypto’s examination of Glassnode’s data, entities holding at least 1k coins grew by 6% year-to-date (YTD). The increased accumulation has helped pump Bitcoin’s price.