The expiration of a CME futures contract could be affecting Bitcoin’s price. The market price of the first cryptocurrency has been the highest for 43 days.
The cryptocurrency market showed positive figures last April 24th, when Bitcoin exceeded the USD 7,500 barrier. That had been its highest price for 43 days since the price crash of March 12th. The first cryptocurrency exhibited a 5% boost, with a trading level of almost USD 42 billion, between April 23rd and 24th.
According to data from Messari, at the time of writing this article, Bitcoin has a price of USD 7,502. That value exceeds the reference price that it showed on January 1st when it traded at USD 7,194.
The expiration date of a CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) futures BTC contract on April 22nd could have driven Bitcoin’s price, amid the global coronavirus pandemic. BTCJ20 began trading on December 16th, 2019 and closed last April 24th. The next one to expire is BTCK20, which will occur on May 29th.
Another factor could be the upcoming Bitcoin halving that will occur in a few days. That event will reduce the issuance of coins, or reward to miners, from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC per block mined. In other words, operators could be taking greater positions before a possible increase in the price of BTC, due to the decrease in the number of new coins that come into circulation.
In 2020, the top price of Bitcoin has been USD 10,350, a figure that it reached on February 15th. That took place almost a month before the sharp drop that led the cryptocurrency from USD 7,900 to break the USD 4,000 barrier. The situation arose after the World Health Organization (WHO) decreed COVID-19 as a global pandemic. However, Bitcoin has already been able to recover almost 100% of its price.
Regarding the rest of the cryptocurrencies, they also exhibit positive figures. Ether (ETH) and Ripple (XRP) show similar behaviors, with a 0.5% advance. The former recently traded at USD 186.76, whilst the latter had a price of USD 0.193934 per unit. Hive showed the greatest advances within 24 hours with a gain of 58.5% to trade at USD 0.283762. Digibyte went up by up 19% (USD 0.01168220) and Aave gained 15% (USD 0.03512427), according to data from CoinGecko.
The total market capitalization amounted, in the last 24 hours, to USD 216 billion with an increase of 3.8% and total marketing of USD 81 billion, at the time of writing this article. Market dominance has the following distribution: BTC (63.4%), ETH (9.55%), and XRP (3.95%).
The global economic recession that the coronavirus pandemic has caused is leading traditional securities and commodities markets, among others, to all-time lows such as the recent drop in oil prices. Despite this dark scenario, Bitcoin is showing favorable behavior in the market. However, some analysts consider that its price could break the USD 4,000 barrier again.
Analyst and trader Alberto Cárdenas considers that, in the face of the expansion of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, the price of the main cryptocurrency could fall to a range between USD 3,600 and USD 4,300.
By Alexander Salazar
