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Bitcoin futures open interest jumps by $1B: Manipulation or hedge?

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Bitcoin’s (BTC) open interest on derivatives exchanges experienced a sudden surge of $1 billion on Sep. 18, prompting investors to question whether whales were accumulating in anticipation of the unsealing of Binance’s court filings.

However, a closer look at derivatives metrics suggests a more nuanced picture, as the funding rate did not exhibit clear signs of excessive buying demand.

The decision to unseal these documents was granted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which had accused Binance of non-cooperation despite previously agreeing to a consent order related to unregistered securities operations and other allegations.

BTC futures aggregate open interest, USD (green, left). Source: CoinGlass

The open interest spiked to $12.1 billion while Bitcoin’s price concurrently increased by 3.4%, the highest point in over two weeks at $27,430.

However, investors soon realized that, aside from a comment by the Binance.US auditor regarding the challenges of ensuring full collateralization, there was little concrete information revealed in the unsealed documents.

Later in the day, Federal Judge Zia Faruqui rejected the SEC’s request to inspect Binance.US’s technical infrastructure and share additional information. Nevertheless, the judge stipulated that Binance.US must furnish more details about its custody solution, casting doubt on whether Binance International ultimately controls these assets.

By the end of Sep. 18, Bitcoin’s open interest had receded to $11.3 billion as its price dropped by 2.4% to $26,770. This decline indicated that the entities behind the open interest surge were no longer inclined to maintain their positions.

These whales were likely disappointed with the court’s outcomes, or the price action may not have unfolded as expected. In any case, 80% of the open interest increase disappeared in less than 24 hours.

Futures’ buyers and sellers are matched at all times

It can be assumed that most of the demand for leverage was driven by bullish sentiment, as Bitcoin’s price climbed alongside the increase in open interest and subsequently plummeted as 80% of the contracts were closed. However, attributing cause and effect solely to Binance’s court rulings seems unwarranted for several reasons.

Firstly, no one anticipated that the unsealed documents would favor Binance or its CEO, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, given that it was the SEC that had originally requested their release. Additionally, the Bitcoin futures contract funding rate, which gauges imbalances between long and short positions, remained largely stable throughout this period.

BTC futures average 8-hour funding rate. Source: CoinGlass

If there had indeed been an unforeseen demand surge of $1 billion in open interest, primarily driven by desperate buyers, it’s reasonable to assume that the funding rate would have spiked above 0.01%. However, quite the opposite unfolded on Sept. 19, as Bitcoin’s open interest expanded to $11.7 billion while the funding rate plunged to zero.

With Bitcoin’s price rallying above $27,200 during this second phase of open interest growth, it becomes increasingly evident that, regardless of the underlying motives, the price pressure tends to be upward. While the exact rationale may remain elusive, certain trading patterns could shed light on this movement.

Market makers’ hedge could explain OI spike

One plausible explanation could be the involvement of market makers executing buy orders on behalf of substantial clients. This would account for the initial enthusiasm in both the spot market and BTC futures, propelling the price higher. After the initial surge, the market maker becomes fully hedged, eliminating the need for further buying and leading to a price correction.

During the second phase of the trade, there is no impact on Bitcoi price, as the market maker must offload the BTC futures contracts and purchase spot Bitcoin. This results in a reduction in open interest and may disappoint some participants who were anticipating additional buying fervor.

Rather than hastily labeling every “Bart” formation as manipulation, it is advisable to delve into the operations of arbitrage desks and carefully analyze the BTC futures funding rate before jumping to conclusions. Thus, when there is no excessive demand for leveraged long positions, an increase in open interest does not necessarily signify a buying spree, as was the case on Sep. 18.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Cryptocurrency

Somnia Announces Partnership With Ankr to Power Developer Infrastructure and Drive Innovation

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[PRESS RELEASE – New York, United States, November 26th, 2024]

Somnia, “the dream computer for a fully on-chain world,” is proud to announce a strategic partnership with Ankr, one of the leading RPC node providers in the blockchain space. This collaboration will provide Somnia’s ecosystem with world-class infrastructure, cost savings, and opportunities for innovation.

As part of its mission to bring the world’s data on-chain, Somnia’s partnership with Ankr ensures that developers gain access to essential tools and infrastructure needed for success.

Key Features of the Partnership:

  • Industry-Leading RPC and Subgraph Services: Ankr will provide robust RPC node and subgraph infrastructure for Somnia, ensuring developers experience high quality performance, reliability, and uptime when building on the Somnia blockchain.
  • Generous Free Tier for Developers: Developers building on Somnia can enjoy up to 1 million free RPC calls per day, courtesy of Ankr. This cost-saving initiative makes Somnia an even more attractive choice for developers creating scalable and innovative decentralized applications.
  • Hackathon Collaboration: As part of this partnership, Ankr will co-market and sponsor an exclusive hackathon for the Somnia ecosystem. This event will bring together developers from across the blockchain space to explore the possibilities of Somnia’s 400,000 TPS blockchain and build the next generation of dApps.
  • Transparent and Affordable Developer Pricing: Ankr’s commitment to transparent pricing aligns perfectly with Somnia’s developer-first philosophy, ensuring affordable access to critical infrastructure for all builders.

This partnership underscores both Somnia and Ankr’s shared commitment to empowering developers and pushing the boundaries of blockchain technology. Together, the two companies aim to build a thriving ecosystem where decentralized applications can scale, innovate, and reach global audiences. Visit the Somnia Devnet today to explore the future of Web3.

About Somnia

Somnia is bringing the world’s data on-chain with the fastest, most cost-efficient EVM Layer 1 blockchain, processing over 400,000 TPS with sub-second finality and sub-cent fees even in high-density scenarios. Somnia’s innovative design includes the new Multistream Consensus with accelerated sequential execution, the custom IceDB database, advanced compression techniques, and instant reactivity to on-chain events directly in Solidity. Somnia is the only blockchain fully equipped for real-time, reactive, mass-consumer dApps that reach millions of users.

About Ankr

Ankr is an all-in-one Web3 development hub that provides a full suite of tools for any organization to build new decentralized apps and power them with high-performance connections to 60+ blockchains. Top clients like Microsoft, Tencent Cloud, Optimism, Polygon, Binance, and Messari trust Ankr’s global node infrastructure to supply the fastest and most reliable connection to every major Web3 network. With 2 trillion blockchain requests served annually, Ankr enables a massive share of all Web3 traffic, paving the way for a more decentralized, open, and user-owned internet.

For more information, users can visit Somnia.Network

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Binance Founder CZ Says Meme Coins Are Getting Weird

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The incessant creation and launch of meme coins in the crypto ecosystem have caught the attention of prominent personalities, resulting in a call for fewer meaningless tokens and the development of more useful applications.

Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the founder and former CEO of the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, lent his voice to the cause on Tuesday, tweeting that meme coins are becoming a little weird. He, however, noted that his call for more useful applications on the blockchain does not translate to hating meme coins.

CZ Expresses Concern About Meme Coins

Many community members concurred with CZ’s stance on meme coins, with one stating that the tokens had gone from being fun to funny and then became “extremely weird and desperate.”

A Binance Square content creator named Ahmet insisted that it would be difficult to end the meme coin craze because some of these tokens have garnered support from big names like Elon Musk, the world’s richest man.

Musk is an avid supporter of Dogecoin (DOGE), the first and largest of the bunch, and he has taken several steps in honor of the coin. A few days ago, Musk unveiled the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under the Trump administration.

Ahmet further asserted that the best approach to the meme coin sector would be advocating for tokens with better quality and large communities; otherwise, 98% of such assets would be garbage. In response to his tweet, CZ clarified that he is not trying to end meme coins but to encourage more builders to create real applications using blockchain.

“Everyone have their choose on what to invest or hold,” the Binance founder added.

Can Meme Coins Evolve?

CZ’s opinion echoes that of Ethereum founder and computer programmer Vitalik Buterin, who earlier this year urged creators to make exciting blockchain games rather than simple copy-and-paste meme coins.

In his report, Buterin insisted that meme coins could evolve from useless, racist, and sexist tokens to projects that contribute positively to the crypto ecosystem and support public goods instead of just enriching insiders.

Buterin and CZ’s remarks come as the crypto space witnesses a significant rise in the creation of meme coins, driven by the availability of launchpads like Solana’s Pump.fun and Tron network’s SunPump. These platforms have launched millions of worthless meme coins since their inception in less than a year, with thousands of tokens released daily.

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Peter Schiff Argues America’s Bitcoin Superpower Vision Will Weaken its Economy

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Vocal Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff has argued that embracing Bitcoin as a nation would weaken America’s economy.

Schiff’s comments, shared Monday on the social media platform X, were a pointed critique of Trump’s vision of making the U.S. a global leader in cryptocurrency.

Economic Risks

In the post, Schiff suggested that due to Trump’s support for crypto, Wall Street was significantly misallocating capital toward Bitcoin and associated ventures.

“Becoming a Bitcoin superpower makes America weaker,” the economist contended, in what appeared to be a jab at Trump’s iconic “Make America Great Again” slogan.

The President-elect has made no secret of his support for crypto, especially Bitcoin, and his election win has pushed the asset’s price to new all-time highs. Anticipation for clearer regulations and an end to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) punitive stance on crypto has also encouraged more institutional players to enter the sector.

MicroStrategy has been at the forefront of this Bitcoin acquisition spree, having amassed more than 386,000 coins valued at approximately $35 billion.

However, Schiff believes this redirecting of funds to Bitcoin is “value-destroying.” He recently predicted a “bloodbath” for MicroStrategy’s stock, calling it the most overvalued asset on the MSCI World Index.

Additionally, the Echelon Wealth co-founder suggested that Bitcoin was not a store of value as many of its proponents claim, but rather, holding it was a wager on its price rising as the fear of missing out (FOMO) pushed more people to buy it.

Community Blowback

Schiff’s remarks were met with backlash from the crypto community. One user questioned his understanding of the concept of monetary premium, while another derided him for having spent the last 15 years criticizing BTC and urged him to “move on.”

Elsewhere, digital asset influencer Neil Jacobs dismissed his opinion as one of the “dumbest posts ever.” Other users accused Schiff of trolling or seeking engagement, with some telling him to embrace Bitcoin’s growth instead of resisting it.

The 61-year-old’s latest remarks follow earlier warnings about the economic risks of the U.S. establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve. He has previously argued that an initial government purchase would likely drive the cryptocurrency’s prices to unprecedented levels, creating substantial wealth for early adopters.

According to him, this surge could prompt investors to sell off their holdings, leaving the government with devalued Bitcoin reserves.

Schiff warned that to counteract this effect, the government might print more money to sustain its crypto acquisitions. He believes that this could trigger hyperinflation and significantly weaken the dollar.

He also expressed doubt that a BTC reserve would ever materialize, citing the coin’s inconsistent performance compared to gold, whose market cap continues to grow steadily.

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