trading

Bitcoin Futures, Options, and Open Interest: Crypto Derivatives Break Records After the Halving

21/05/2020 by Idelto Editor

Since the market rout on March 12, otherwise known as ‘Black Thursday,’ bitcoin futures and options contracts have seen significant demand. On May 14, CME Group saw the total number of outstanding derivatives contracts (open interest) touch a high of $142 million. Four days later, CME broke records again. Data from the researchers at Skew.com detailed that CME’s regulated bitcoin options open interest is up 10x this month.

Deribit’s Massive Options Volumes and CME Group’s Regulated Bitcoin Derivatives Markets Touch New Highs

Ever since the halving on May 11, there’s been a lot of action when it comes to bitcoin-based derivatives products. The research and analysis team from Skew.com publishes daily information about CME’s bitcoin futures and options, products from Bakkt, and a slew of other exchanges that offer crypto derivatives.

For instance, Skew detailed that the exchange Deribit’s bitcoin options open interest had touched $1 billion for the first time this week. On May 14, CME Group saw $142 million in 10-day combined daily volumes, which is far smaller than Deribit’s volumes but still a milestone for CME. The regulated exchange touched $172 million in total CME BTC options open interest, following the record performance four days prior.

On May 8, CME Group published a blog post about the bitcoin halving and discussed its derivatives products as well. “The emergence of a futures and options market has created a new ecosystem for bitcoin markets, which faces its first supply cut since 2016,” CME Group’s Payal Lakhani wrote at the time. The May 14, open interest breakout for CME Group’s bitcoin options was the first time it has ever crossed $100 million, Skew noted.

Bitcoin Futures, Options, and Open Interest: Crypto Derivatives Break Records After the Halving — Deribit open interest only.

Between Deribit, CME, Bakkt, Okex, and Ledgerx the volumes pushed “total bitcoin options open interest to a new record [of] $1.1 billion,” Skew explained. Additionally, “CME bitcoin futures traded nearly $1 billion,” on May 12, 2020 the researchers disclosed.

Bitcoin Halving Fuels Speculation, the Very Driver of Crypto Derivatives Markets

Even Bakkt’s trade volumes increased after the halving, despite lackluster trading volume months prior to the event. “Bakkt had a solid halving session with a record volume day in $ notional, $51.8 million bitcoin futures crossed,” Skew tweeted the day after bitcoin’s third halving.

There’s been a lot of action with ethereum-based (ETH) derivatives products as well. Skew explained on May 21 that “17,500+ Jun20 240 calls traded yesterday on Deribit [at] $10.1 average dollar equivalent price.” When looking at Deribit’s ETH options buy/sell ration Skew said it “reads like overwriting as 76% of liquidity takers were sellers yesterday.”

The market carnage in mid-March was devastating to a lot of traders, and many derivatives players lost their shirts during massive liquidations. The price of BTC has strengthened since it dropped to $3,600 per coin on March 12, and cryptocurrency derivatives markets have seen a great deal of increased action since then as well. Moreover, the third bitcoin halving that took place on May 11, 2020, at 2:30 p.m. ET, sparked even more interest in bitcoin-based futures and options contracts betting on the next few months.

What do you think about the latest interest increase in bitcoin derivatives products? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Bitcoin Futures, Options, and Open Interest: Crypto Derivatives Break Records After the Halving appeared first on Bitcoin News.

P2P Bitcoin Trade Volumes and Inflation in Latin America Are on the Rise

16/05/2020 by Idelto Editor

During the last two months since the March 12 crypto market rout, otherwise known as ‘Black Thursday,’ demand for cryptocurrencies seems to be on the rise in certain regions in Latin America. Various reports published this week have noted that countries like Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, and Mexico have seen significant bitcoin trade volumes. However, other reports show that even though the volumes are high in these specific countries, they are hard to measure due to inflation or hyperinflation.

Trade Volumes Spike in Countries Like Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, and Argentina, But the Region’s Fiat Currencies Are Also Stricken by High Inflation

A lot of bitcoin trade volume has been taking place in a variety of Latin American countries. Peer-to-peer marketplaces that sell cryptocurrencies are seeing strong volumes in these regions. According to Coin Dance volume statistics, Colombia, Brazil, and Chile have seen significant bitcoin trade volumes on Localbitcoins week after week. Venezuela and Argentina bitcoin trade volumes indicate new all-time highs and the trend can be seen on Paxful, Mycrypto, Local.Bitcoin.com, and other platforms as well. Because of this vast crypto trade volume in Latin America, it had prompted a number of financial news outlets to report that there is significant demand stemming from these areas. For instance, Nikkei Asian Review staff writer Naoyuki Toyama recently wrote that “bitcoin shines in emerging markets plagued by falling currencies,” and “from Bueno Aires to Beirut, investors embrace cryptocurrency as a safe haven.”

Despite the reports, a few media outlets like Decrypt, Crypto Globe, and a few others showed a different side of the story. For instance, it seems people are not taking into account that the fiat currencies in these countries are becoming less valuable every day. Yes, the volumes are at an all-time high in Argentina, but inflation is worse than it has ever been for Argentines in three decades. Well before the coronavirus, Argentina’s inflation rate hit 53.8% at the end of 2019.

Venezuela is the same way, as the inflation rate for Venezuelans is massive. In February 2020 the inflation rate was 2,910%, but it did fall to 2,430% in March. However, the significantly larger inflation rate in Venezuela makes it the worst inflation rate in the world by a long shot. Despite the fact that Localbitcoins trade volumes in the country are touching an all-time high, it doesn’t compare to the trade volumes in 2017 when the bolivar was worth more.

Issues With the Iranian Rial and the Fall of the US Dollar

The Covid-19 pandemic has made things worse in these countries as the economies in Chile, Venezuela, Columbia, Mexico, and all the other regions with high BTC trade volumes have worsened. The troubles have gotten so bad in Venezuela, this week President Nicolas Maduro enacted a rent and wage freeze across the whole country. On many occasions, Localbitcoins data has had some discrepancies, particularly when it used to serve Iran. Not too long ago, many individuals and publications said that Iranians were paying $24,000 per BTC.

The problem with that price estimate was a common misconception about the exchange rate in Iran and how it works. At the time, people observed that one BTC was around a billion Iranian rials, but the exchange rate math is entirely different. An Iranian national named Mehran Jalali explained when these $24K per BTC headlines came out, how people can get the market rate using USD, and the Iranian rial. “The going market rate for the U.S. dollar to the Iranian rial is one dollar to 136,500 rials,” Jalali said this past January. Making things even more confusing, news.Bitcoin.com’s Kevin Helms reported on how Iranian lawmakers recently discussed slashing four zeros from the rial. Localbitcoins, however, banned Iranian traders from swapping digital currencies on the platform and residents now have to leverage other options.

It’s hard to measure how much demand is stemming from any country based on Localbitcoins volumes alone. Especially when there are huge discrepancies and massive inflation ruining these fiat currencies from various Latin American countries. The same could be said for the U.S. dollar someday, and economists have predicted the end of the USD after the petro-dollar collapse. Analysts forecast that BTC could reach 1 million dollars, at some point in time, and it very well could happen in the midst of hyperinflation in the U.S. if it was to occur. A number of economists think that the demise of USD very well could happen especially amid the Federal Reserve creating trillions of dollars out of thin air. So if you think about it logically and envision BTC touching a million USD per coin — Would it be very meaningful if the USD was near worthless?

What do you think about the trade volumes in Latin America taking inflation into consideration? Let us know what you think about this topic in the comments below.

The post P2P Bitcoin Trade Volumes and Inflation in Latin America Are on the Rise appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Bitcoin Price Touches $10K Amid 2020’s Macroeconomic Storm and Covid-19 Fears

08/05/2020 by Idelto Editor

On May 7, 2020, the price of a single bitcoin crossed $10,000 per unit in USD value as the network only has four days until the halving, otherwise known as the “quantitative hardening” by some investors. The cryptocurrency’s per annum inflation rate will drop from 3.6% to 1.8% on or around May 12, 2020, as banks like the Federal Reserve flood the monetary system with stimulus by creating trillions out of thin air.

The digital asset BTC has made headlines today, as the price per unit has once again crossed the $10K zone. After dropping to $3,600 per BTC on March 12, otherwise known as ‘Black Thursday’ the price has since gained over 177%. There is no asset (besides a few other cryptocurrencies), stock, commodity, or precious metal that has experienced a sizable gain such as BTC’s recent run-up. The price gives the crypto asset a $184 billion market valuation, and there’s around $15 billion worth of global trade volume today.

A number of investors believe the rise in price is due to the upcoming halving on or around May 12. The BTC network’s block rewards are halved after this date and miners who find blocks will only get 6.25 BTC as opposed to the former 12.5 coins. The chain halves every four years or every 210,000 blocks mined.

This week, the crypto analytics startup Messari.io and the digital currency exchange Bitstamp, published a report about the crypto asset’s third halving and the implications. Within the research report, the companies explain “miner economics” and how as soon as the BTC network halves, there will be a “50% overnight drop in revenue” for miners. This will cause a lot of attention toward BTC’s price and network hashrate.

“While this overnight drop may not be a shock, given that the halving is known in advance, it doesn’t mean that planning for the halving is straightforward,” the report details. “The amount of new BTC issued every block is only one side of the equation. The other side is bitcoin’s price.” The report concerning BTC’s block reward halving further notes:

Without a 100% price increase to counteract the reduction in new issuance, every miner’s revenue will be impacted significantly. Those with the most efficient cost structures will ultimately stay in business. Those with inefficient structures will likely be forced to shut off their machines once profitability dips below break-even levels. While most miners cannot immediately shut off their machines due to contractual obligations with colocation facilitates and utilities, those with the highest costs to produce new BTC will eventually capitulate and go bankrupt.

With the price of BTC crossing the $10K zone, it helps but a number of speculators and skeptics are more concerned about after the halving. Some theories and estimates suggest that $10K per BTC might not be enough for some mining operations to survive. According to a recent study published by Tradeblock, the price will need to be around $12.5K or above for a great majority of miners. While some speculators assume mammoth prices await investors, others believe the price could drop significantly after the halving. Either way, most cryptocurrency proponents will be watching.

What do you think about the price of BTC crossing $10K? Let us know in the comments section below.

The post Bitcoin Price Touches $10K Amid 2020’s Macroeconomic Storm and Covid-19 Fears appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Making Money on Lockdown: 5 Effortless Ways to Earn Cryptocurrencies Online

19/04/2020 by Idelto Editor

The various government responses to the coronavirus caused a lot of havoc across the global economy and millions of people are now out of work. A number of nation states have not lifted the lockdowns and no one’s really sure when the slew of shutdown industries will open again. While people are out of work they might find interest in the multitude of methods available that individuals can use to earn digital currencies online. The following is a comprehensive list of how to safely earn cryptocurrencies on lockdown by invoking some initiative and a little bit of effort.

5 Ways to Earn Cryptocurrencies

These days, people are trying to find side gigs and opportunities to make money online because the economy was shut down by the world’s governments in response to the Covid-19 outbreak. For years now, bitcoiners and crypto advocates have been telling people about the benefits of earning digital assets online. For instance, people can earn coins like BTC, BCH, ETH and a number of other crypto assets right now by simply completing tasks, surveys, writing, trading, mining, staking, finding airdrops and more. In this post, we’re going to cover the myriad of opportunities available to people interested in making some money on the side by leveraging cryptocurrency solutions.

Trading

If you are good at analyzing charts and trading, then you can make a lot of profits by swapping digital assets on a regular basis. Trading can even be a full-time job, which provides enough income for an individual to survive, but the profession can also be risky. For instance, in order for anyone to start profiting from crypto trading, individuals simply have to purchase some digital assets and play the highs and lows correctly by knowing the right times to trade.

It’s probably a good idea to hone your skills before getting started and that includes relentlessly studying technical analysis methods and charts. It’s not easy learning how to trade and people should only swap what they can afford to lose. However, it is quite possible to make a living by trading on the crypto markets that operate 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Bitcoin.com has a sleek and easy-to-use crypto-trading exchange that offers a variety of popular digital assets and crypto trading pairs like BTC, BCH, and USDT.

Mining and Staking

People can also mine digital assets that leverage application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) devices, GPUs, and CPUs if they put up some capital to get started. With ASIC and GPU mining, an individual with access to either free or extremely cheap electricity can earn digital assets by buying some machines. With coins that can be mined by a central processing unit (CPU) people might be able to earn coins if they have enough personal computer cores to spare. ASIC and GPU mining will require an upfront cost to get started and CPU mining might make your computer slower. In addition, all the mining possibilities require running mining devices constantly, in order to rake in some profits. If someone decides to mine cryptocurrencies they most likely will want to join a pool, as individual hobby mining isn’t as profitable as it used to be. Bitcoin.com offers a profitable mining pool that allows people to mine either BTC or BCH and the service also offers cloud contracts as well. With cloud mining, people can earn digital assets even if they don’t own any hardware or they don’t have the technical know-how to start mining on their own.

With staking, people can acquire some proof-of-stake (PoS) coins and make money by simply holding the assets over a period of time. Most PoS coins have a network that finds blocks deterministically and the more assets someone holds, the more they can earn. There are all types of PoS coins with a variety of different per annum staking yields. Lots of people stake coins in a noncustodial fashion by leveraging a wallet or they can opt to stake coins on an exchange as well but it’s riskier.

Freelancing, Tasks, and Blogging

There are various opportunities to earn cryptos via freelance jobs, accomplishing tasks, completing online surveys and editing or writing essays for coins. There are many jobs available on freelance websites like Cryptocurrencyjobs, Ethlance, Freelanceforcoins.com, and a few others. People can earn money by simply writing and blogging on a regular basis. Read.cash, a blogging platform, allows individuals to do just this and earn bitcoin cash by writing and sharing unique content.

Another blogging website that rewards users in BCH and ten other digital currencies is the platform Publish 0x. If you don’t have an issue with the recent Tron-fiasco, you can also opt to write on the Steemit platform as well, in order to earn digital currencies for writing and producing content.

Collecting Airdrops

Just recently news.Bitcoin.com wrote about how people can obtain airdrop tokens in order to make some profits. Basically, digital currency projects distribute coins to people if they help market the coin or project in some fashion. For instance, people can obtain airdrop cryptos by downloading a protocol, registering, following or retweeting on social media, and some only require people to simply giving the airdrop creators a receiving address.

Accepting Digital Currencies for Goods and Services

If you own a physical shop and can’t sell things because of the lockdowns, you might want to sell goods and services online for cryptocurrencies like BCH, BTC, and ETH. Setting up e-commerce merchant services online is easy to do and Bitcoin.com offers a variety of resourceful guides to help people get started. For example, if someone wants to accept bitcoin cash for payments they can leverage a payment gateway and add it to any website.

Accepting digital currencies opens a business to more types of payment methods and a loyal customer base. Essentially, a cryptocurrency payment gateway or merchant solution will allow you to accept a digital asset, but also calculate how much money the items or services are in any fiat denomination. You will also be giving customers a privacy-centric solution to shopping online because clients won’t have to enter credit or debit card information over the web.

With a Little Initiative, Anyone Can Earn Digital Currencies Online Today

The list mentioned above only scratches the surface when it comes to earning cryptocurrencies online, as there are many other ways to make money with digital currencies. Some of the jobs can make people a few bucks as a side hustle by completing effortless tasks online or people can opt to make a full-time career by leveraging the crypto economy. There are plenty of video streamers, content creators, writers, bloggers, traders, consultants, and miners working a full-time job in those fields.

The coronavirus lockdowns continue to be rough on the economy and cryptocurrency solutions have always offered people a different way to earn funds online. It may take some research but with a bit of effort, it is not impossible to regain some or even all of those lost wages from the shutdown, by simply earning and learning to use cryptocurrencies.

What do you think about our list of ways to earn cryptocurrencies during the lockdown? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Making Money on Lockdown: 5 Effortless Ways to Earn Cryptocurrencies Online appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Bitcoin.com Exchange Now Supports Reserve’s Stablecoin RSV and the Utility Token RSR

16/04/2020 by Idelto Editor

Bitcoin.com Exchange Now Supports Reserve Stablecoin RSV and the Utility Token RSR

Bitcoin.com’s Exchange continues to grow and during the last few months, the platform has added support for a number of well known tokens. This week, the trading platform has added support for the Reserve stablecoin (RSV) and the project’s utility token (RSR). Bitcoin.com Exchange users will be able to trade RSV and RSR with trading pairs like bitcoin cash (BCH) and tether (USDT).

Also read: China’s Research Institute Updates Crypto Ranking — Review Affected by Pandemic

Bitcoin.com Exchange Adds Two Reserve Tokens – RSV and RSR

Since launching the trading platform Bitcoin.com Exchange last September, the service has seen considerable growth. The exchange is a simple-to-use trading engine that offers a variety of different cryptocurrencies. Popular digital assets hosted on the platform include coins like litecoin (LTC), ripple (XRP), tron (TRX), zcash (ZEC), stellar (XLM), dash (DASH) and eos (EOS) are paired with markets denominated in base currencies such as bitcoin cash (BCH), ETH, BTC, and tether (USDT). This week, the Bitcoin.com Exchange has added two different tokens from the Reserve project. The team behind Reserve wholeheartedly believes that everyone’s money “should be secure,” but also they also stress they are “building a universal store of value.”

In order to complete their goals, the Reserve team notes the project will move through three different phases that are increasingly decentralized. Reserve’s creators think that cryptocurrencies are a far better form of money, but they need to be both accessible and a store of value that can be leveraged as a unit of account. The project’s first phase will be more centralized where reserves are backed by collateral and pegged to the United States dollar. The second phase aims to utilize a “basket of assets” and still keep the USD peg. “And in the third and last phase,” the Reserve team says. “[Is] the dollar-peg, which would be abandoned to stabilize the real purchasing power of Reserve.

Stablecoins Offer a Hedge Against Volatile Markets

Bitcoin.com Exchange users will now have the chance to obtain or trade against Reserve tokens with BCH and USDT. The two tokens that will be added include the stablecoin (RSV) and Reserve’s utility token (RSR). When an open-finance stablecoin RSV is purchased, the team says the assets used to obtain RSV are “held in a collateral smart contract, so there is always a 1:1 collateralization.” The RSR token is a utility token that has a myriad of roles in the Reserve network. The Reserve project’s decentralized price-peg scheme is similar to the way Makerdao operates.

Stablecoins like Reserve offer a number of benefits for traders looking for arbitrage and those looking to hedge against big drops in value when the crypto economy slides. If you haven’t signed up for our trading platform, the process is quick and easy. Simply register with exchange.Bitcoin.com and you’ll be able to instantly trade, deposit, and withdraw your favorite digital assets. Bitcoin.com’s user interface is designed for ease-of-use combined with a professional-grade trading platform configured to offer seamless swaps in a secure environment.

What do you think about Bitcoin.com Exchange’s continued growth? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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