en
Back to the list

Pro traders close Ethereum longs even after today’s $1.15B options expiry

source-logo  cointelegraph.com  + 1 more 26 March 2021 18:58, UTC

Ether (ETH) rebounded from a $1,550 low on March 24, which marked a 17% fall from the $1,870 weekly high. Even though the $1.15 billion options expiry in the early hours of March 26 could have pressured Ether price, the continuing surge in gas fees for Ethereum transactions likely played a part.

To better assess these forces, one should analyze top traders' exposure using data provided by the largest crypto exchanges. If the case for the options expiry holds, the long-to-short data from whales and arbitrage desks will show buying activity after the options expiry at 8:00 UTC.

The chart above shows that top traders have been reducing their positions over the past 48 hours, and the movement remained after the options expired (orange bar). These whales and arbitrage desks increased their exposure as Ether price crashed 10% on March 24 and have since been taking profits.

It is worth noting that the 1.56 ratio favoring longs on OKEx was the highest level seen in March, signaling that top traders were confident that the $1,550 support would hold.

Given that this movement took place 36 hours ahead of the options expiry, it weakens the thesis that whales pushed Ether price downward to somehow profit from it.

A similar trend took place at Huobi, where top traders' net long-to-short ratio peaked at 0.96 on March 25. Albeit slightly favoring shorts, the indicator hadn't seen such levels since March 7. Therefore, it further signals that there was no selling pressure targeting the March 26 options expiry.

Thus, any sustainable Ether price rebound, let alone a new all-time high, should occur as Eth2 and sustainable scaling solutions are put into place. Currently, there's no reason to believe that options markets have masqueraded the price.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

cointelegraph.com

Similar news (1)
Add similar news