Bitcoin barely reacted to today’s CME futures expiry, but is this a bullish or bearish signal?
Today’s Bitcoin (BTC) futures expiry was lackluster both in terms of price impact and volume. Open interest dropped by a mere $157 million, barely moving from its $5 billion mark.
As CoinTelegraph correctly predicted yesterday, this most recent CME Bitcoin futures expiry was irrelevant. Some $125 million worth of August contracts were set to liquidate today, although preliminary data indicates less than $40 million were not rolled over for the upcoming months.
Total open interest, USD million. Source: Bybt.com & CoinTelegraph
The chart above shows the total open interest change over the past 24-hours, although the data includes inverse swaps (perpetual) and the remaining calendar months.
Nevertheless, this is strikingly opposite from the July expiry when $500 million worth of futures contracts were liquidated.
Expiry size depends on recent price activity
The main reason behind such traders’ indifference to today’s expiry seems to be the failure to establish support levels above $11,200 over the past few weeks.
As CoinTelegraph mentioned earlier this week, the current “macro factors hint at a positive medium-term to long-term price cycle but suggest that in the near term, momentum will fade and a consolidation phase will happen.”
More Details:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-price-shakes-off-157m-btc-futures-expiry-is-12-000-next