First Mover: Ether Traders Load Up on $8K Call Options in Bet Price Will Double by July

PLUS: Bitcoin Strengthens; Faces Resistance Around $60K-$62K

Everything you need to make sense of the crypto markets and beyond By the CoinDesk Markets Team Edited by Lawrence Lewitinn, Managing Editor, Global Capital Markets May 6, 2021 Sponsored by     Bitcoin (BTC) +4.3%   $58,043 Ether (ETH)  +3.1%   $3,489 (Price data as of May 6 @11:00 UTC) If you were forwarded this newsletter and would like to receive it, sign up here.  Good morning. Here's what we're writing about: Market Moves: Ether Traders Load Up on $8K Call Options in Bet Price Will Double by July   Technician's Take: Bitcoin Strengthens; Faces Resistance Around $60K-$62K   Check out the CoinDesk TV show "First Mover," hosted by Christine Lee, Lawrence Lewitinn and Emily Parker, at 9 a.m. U.S. Eastern time. Today the show will feature guests: Gary Vaynerchuk, VaynerX Chairman Philip Gradwell, Chainalysis Chief Economist Sean Sanders, Revix CEO & Founder Biggest Movers These are the biggest movers in the CoinDesk 20 over the past 24 hours:   Gainers: EOS (EOS): +24.6% Bitcoin Cash (BCH): +24.1% Cardano (ADA): +19.8%   Losers:  Uniswap (UNI): -4.4% NuCypher (NU): -2.0% Aave (AAVE): -0.8%   The CoinDesk 20 are 20 digital assets filtered from the larger universe of thousands of cryptocurrencies and constitute roughly 99% of the market by volume at eight of the largest and most trustworthy exchanges. Market Moves by Omkar Godbole Ether Traders Load Up on $8K Call Options in Bet Price Will Double by July Prices for ether (ETH), the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain, have already quadrupled this year. Now, some options trade are betting prices could double again – by next month. Market data reveals growing demand for ether's deep out-of-the-money (OTM) call options – bullish bets with strike prices well above the spot market price of the underlying asset.  Ether has rallied from $2,000 to record highs over $3,500 in the past 10 days. On Tuesday a single high-net-worth trader or a group of traders bought 9,000 contracts of the $8,000 call expiring June 25.   These block trades crossed the tape via the institution-focused, over-the-counter desk Paradigm and were booked on Deribit, the leading exchange for cryptocurrency options.  Ether: Open interest in $8,000 call expiring on June 25 (Source: Laevitas, Deribit) Theoretically, buyers of the calls are expecting the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap to rise above $8,000 by the end of June.    However, if ether continues its steep bull run for few more weeks, the price of the $8,000 call would surge, simply because the trade would be more likely to pay off. At that point, traders could sell the options in the market for a quick profit.    Whatever transpires, according to analysts, the surge in demand now for the $8,000 call implies bullish price expectations potentially linked to the network upgrade known as EIP 1559 that would reduce the pace of the net issuance of ether.   "Investors look to be betting on continued bullish momentum in anticipation of a big drop in ether's issuance after the EIP 1559 upgrade," according to Laevitas, a Swiss data analytics firm for cryptocurrency markets.    Call options, or bullish bets, with strikes ranging from $5,000 to $10,000 listed on Deribit have become popular in recent weeks.  Ether options open interest (Source: Laevitas, Deribit) That said, the risks are steep. With the strike price so far away, the options could easily expire worthless, and the buyers would forfeit the premiums they paid for the contracts.   Hence, buying these deeply out-of-the-money call options is often considered analogous to buying lottery tickets.  Read the original story here:  Ether Traders Load Up on $8K Call Options in Bet Price Will Double by July A message from Nexo Your digital assets deserve a savings account in their BEST INTEREST. Leading crypto lender Nexo treats you, your crypto and your fiat to industry-best Crypto & Fiat services, featuring:    * Up to 12% interest on digital assets, paid out daily! * Yields available on BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH, XRP, XLM, EOS, TRX, LINK, BNB, PAXG, USDT, USDC, TUSD, PAX, DAI, HUSD, GBP and EUR. * No minimum or maximum limits on funds deposited, offering infinite opportunities to earn. * #ZeroFees on all transactions. * Military-grade wallet security and top-tier insurance on all custodial assets with SOC 2 Type 2 certified crypto custodian BitGo. Get started at nexo.io Technician's Take by Damanick Dantes Bitcoin Strengthens; Faces Resistance Around $60K-$62K Bitcoin (BTC) broke above initial resistance at $56K as buyers attempt to retrace the April 14 sell-off. The next level of resistance is seen around $60,000 and just below the all-time high around $62,000. Four-hour bitcoin chart shows support and resistance levels with RSI (Source: TradingView) Bitcoin's short-term trend is improving as the 100-period moving average on the four-hour chart is starting to slope upward. The relative strength index (RSI) on the four-hour chart is not yet overbought, which could keep buyers active towards higher resistance levels. Support is seen around $56,000 which limited profit during a pullback in early April. Bitcoin has retraced roughly 60% of the April 14 sell-off and has traded in a wide range between $42,000 and $64,000 over the past few months.   Original story found here: Bitcoin Strengthens; Faces Resistance Around $60K-$62K A message from CME Announcing CME Micro Bitcoin Futures (MBT) : Ready for Trading  Tap into the precision of a smaller-sized Bitcoin contract At 1/10 the size of one bitcoin, MBT futures provide an efficient, cost-effective way to fine-tune bitcoin exposure and to enhance your trading strategies. Enjoy the features of Bitcoin futures, but in a smaller size that gives active traders more choices for managing bitcoin price risk. BOLO Be on the look out for these upcoming events: 12:30 UTC (8:30 a.m. ET):  Initial jobless claims. Forecast: 527,000 16:00 UTC (12:00 p.m. ET): U.S. House Committee on Financial Services: "Virtual Hearing - Game Stopped? Who Wins and Loses When Short Sellers, Social Media, and Retail Investors Collide, Part III" featuring SEC Chair Gary Gensler. Click here for webcast of hearing. Click here for the Committee Memorandum. 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET): Square (SQ) to release results at market close or earlier. Forecast EPS: $0.16 Earnings call is at 5 pm EST and can be heard here. CoinDesk's coverage of the previous quarter can be read here. A message from CoinDesk Unlocked 101 at Consensus by CoinDesk 2021   The countdown is on to Consensus by CoinDesk, our virtual big-tent event this May.   For those who need a primer or to brush up on the fundamentals, we're hosting Unlocked 101, a free educational series designed to give you the tools you need to navigate crypto.   Sessions run May 4–20, covering the basics of Bitcoin, DeFi, scams and hacks and the NFT boom.   Register for Unlocked 101. ICYMI In case you missed it, here's the most recent episode of "First Mover" on CoinDesk TV:   Bloq, Bitpanda, S&P Leaders on the State of Crypto With bitcoin's and ether's amazing gains and even Dogecoin soaring, there are many questions about the state and trajectory of the crypto industry. "First Mover" talks with top industry leaders to hear their thoughts and plans: Bloq Chairman Matthew Roszak, Bitpanda CEO Eric Demuth, and S&P Dow Jones Indices Managing Director Peter Roffman. Introducing CoinDesk Indexes TradeBlock, the leader in providing crypto asset indexes to financial institutions, will now assume the CoinDesk name. Introducing CoinDesk Indexes: the industry standard for institutional-grade digital currency price references with billions of dollars in monthly trading volume quoted against them. Underlying new brand names, TradeBlock's index methodology will continue to adhere to the standards of integrity and reliability that have always differentiated its indexes. Read more about CoinDesk Indexes, the industry standard in crypto benchmarks. Latest Headlines   Revolut's UK Users Can Finally Withdraw Their Bitcoin to Personal Wallets The neobank has come in for criticism in the past for not allowing users to move their crypto off of Revolut's platform. Coinbase to Close Its Former HQ Office in San Francisco to 'Decentralize' Workforce Coinbase said it is moving ahead with its plans to allow employees to work remotely. Crypto.com Becomes Official Sponsor of Italy's Soccer Cup Final The crypto exchange is sponsoring the Coppa Italia final between Atalanta and Juventus on May 19. IRS Approved to Seek Records of Kraken Users Transacting Over $20K in Crypto A U.S. federal court authorized the move Wednesday. DeFi More Disruptive to Banks Than Bitcoin, Says ING ING's deep dive into DeFi includes a case study of lending platform Aave. Nokia Launches Blockchain-Powered Marketplace for Data Trading The marketplace is aimed to provide enterprises and communication service providers access to trusted datasets. CoinDesk Research: Does Bitcoin Have an Energy Problem? Is Bitcoin bad for the environment? This CoinDesk Research report looks at the data behind the most common critiques and shows that, while Bitcoin uses a lot of energy, the mix is evolving toward renewables. Bitcoin also incentivizes investment in clean energy sources, can convert pollution into value, and redistributes wasted power production.  Download the free report.   Disclaimer: The information presented in this message is intended as a news item that provides a brief summary of various events and developments that affect, or that might in the future affect, the value of one or more of the cryptocurrencies described above. The information contained in this message, and any information liked through the items contained herein, is not intended to provide sufficient information to form the basis for an investment decision. The information presented herein is accurate only as of its date, and it was not prepared by a research analyst or other investment professional. 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