coindesk.com
Bitcoin is trading above $70K, while Ether was above $3600 on Monday.
Bitcoin halving event keeps options volatility high while perpetual futures funding rates remain inflated.
Bitcoin ($BTC) and ether ($ETH) began the trading week fairly flat, as many major financial centers around the world remained closed for the long easter weekend.
At the time of writing, bitcoin was stable at $70,000, while ether was trading near $3600, according to data from CoinDesk Indices. The CoinDesk 20 (CD20), a measure of the largest and most liquid digital assets, was up 1.9%, trading at 2,750.
“$BTC and $ETH showed relatively calm movement last week compared to other weeks in March, with weekly realized volatility hitting below 50%,” Jun-Young Heo, a derivatives trader at Singapore-based Presto Labs, said in an email interview. “However, as the Bitcoin halving event is expected to happen around April 20, implied volatility of front-month options remains elevated above 75%.”
He also noted that funding rates remain inflated, with most of the large-cap perpetual futures in major exchanges recording 6bps to 8bps funding rates and global open interest for $BTC and $ETH perpetual futures hitting 35 billion dollars.
“The markets may return to a more volatile regime again,” he continued.
Meanwhile, QCP Capital wrote in a telegram note that bitcoin was rallying before the long weekend because of positive inflow on bitcoin ETFs to the tune of $243.5 million on March 27. Coinglass data shows that this inflow continued on March 28 with $182 million in additional inflow.