Market Wrap: Bitcoin Heads to $61K Ahead of Options Expiry

Bitcoin rose toward $61,000 on Thursday, albeit within a choppy trading range. Analysts have mixed views about the short-term direction of BTC’s price, which is up about 2% over the past 24 hours.

On Wednesday, El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele tweeted that his government had “bought the dip,” adding an additional 420 BTC to the treasury, the equivalent of around $25 million. That purchase was one reason behind today’s price bounce. Bitcoin’s price has whipsawed over the past few days after failing to sustain the all-time high around $66,900 last week.

“Some believe what is happening is a quick balancing process and preparation before the push for new highs, while others think it’s the beginning of a broader correction that will take BTC to $45K-$50K,” FxPro analyst Alex Kuptsikevich, wrote in an email to CoinDesk. Kuptsikevich also mentioned that technical price indicators are retreating from overbought levels, which could lower the odds of a sustained correction.

• Bitcoin (BTC): $61,471, +3.82%

• Ether (ETH): $4,274, +6.64%

• 10-year Treasury yield closed at 1.56%

Other analysts are cautiously optimistic and expect the current pullback to attract greater buying interest for the remainder of the year. “We think the risk-on trade is going to be accelerating in the fourth quarter … [B]ecause crypto has the most volatility, we are extremely bullish on what crypto will do,” Eddie Ghabour, managing partner at Key Advisors Group, said during an interview with CoinDesk

“Despite this quick dip from the highs, the market feels relatively calm and perhaps even slightly optimistic that this is just a dip before a larger rally into year end,” crypto trading firm QCP Capital wrote in a Telegram announcement.

A full $3.1 billion of BTC options are set to mature on Friday, which could be a source of volatility. Currently, the top volume contracts have been around the $60,000 strike price, with calls outweighing puts.

Calls (bullish position) give the options buyer the right to purchase the underlying asset in the future at a predetermined price, whereas puts (bearish position) provides the right to sell.

“Long [traders] stand to benefit should BTC maintain current levels [around $60K] and put option volume remains subdued,” FundStrat wrote in a Thursday newsletter.

Ether, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, returned above $4,000 on Thursday. ETH is up about 4% over the past 24 hours, extending its outperformance versus BTC.

The chart below shows the ETH/BTC ratio, which is currently testing 0.069 resistance – a level where ether previously lagged bitcoin. However, indicators suggest the ratio is not yet overbought, which means ETH/BTC could see further upside toward 0.08 over the next few days.

• Dogecoin (DOGE) hits two-month high as shiba inu (SHIB) lags: Two of the most popular meme coins are competing for the ninth spot on the list of top digital assets by market capitalization. Some traders are profiting from the action by taking spread trades. So far, diverging price trends are helping DOGE consolidate its position as the ninth-biggest coin, CoinDesk’s Omkar Godbole reported.

• SHIB attracts momentum traders: “I’m [trading SHIB] because of the momentum swings that you see in the crypto space but it’s money that I’m willing to lose and have it go down to zero,” Key Advisors Group’s Ghabour said during an interview with CoinDesk. Momentum traders enter and exit trades based on the strength or weakness of price trends.

• Polkadot (DOT) solves blockchain pain points: “Polkadot presents a strong investment opportunity given the technology was developed to address the issues inherent in blockchain,” Richard Byworth, CEO of crypto research firm EQONEX wrote in an email to CoinDesk. Adoption trends can be observed from usage and behavior on the Substrate framework, which can provide a basis for expected adoption trends on the live version of Polkadot, or mainnet. For example, from July 12 to Oct. 11, daily transfers (the act of sending funds from one account to another) averaged above 10,000, indicating a significant increase in the adoption of the network, according to a report by EQONEX.

Most digital assets in the CoinDesk 20 ended the day higher.

Notable winners as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET):