August 1, 2022, will go down in history as the day of the fratricidal battle between the crypto market’s two star currencies, Bitcoin (BTC) and its eternal companion, Ethereum (ETH). Indeed, for the first time today, the second “freaked out the first on the iconic options market. A symbolic as well as strategic statistic that might explain the future fate of the two digital assets.
Full Bitcoin Flipper
Even though Vitalik Buterin’s invention is going to undergo a major structural transformation in a few weeks, the argument about the “switching” (this predicted or feared time according to your own views, when Ethereum may conceivably overtake Bitcoin in terms of marketcap) is particularly frequent.
This transition from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, which is set to take place in September, has sparked much conjecture. On the one hand, those who believe that “everything will change, but nothing will change” in the face of a Bitcoin that is, by definition, uncompetitive. On the other hand, some who feel that The Merge (the event’s abbreviated name) will disrupt the natural order of crypto things. An upheaval that might have a significant influence on Ethereum’s total price, as well as its creator’s projections.
But, even if it’s just speculation, Ethereum is on par with, if not ahead of, Bitcoin in some areas. If we consider mining revenues or the number of transactions per day, another “flipping” has occurred today on the options market.
Ethereum Stops The rally of Bitcoin in the Options Market
The options market is interesting because it represents maybe the finest venue for supply and demand. A struggle not only for the now, but, more importantly, for the future. Speculators make future wagers with specialised financial entities (derivatives). These derivatives are based on the dynamics of underlying assets and are always accompanied with time predictions. Each of these investments is accompanied with an upward or downward bet (call and put). The options market is particularly popular with crypto investors and acts as a meaningful thermometer on market dynamics in general, while being highly speculative (and so must be treated with caution, as the AMF warns us).
However, for the first time today, the volume of Ethereum options surpassed the number of Bitcoin options.
The volume of open options on Ethereum on the Deribit market place (the largest in the industry) is therefore presently 5.7 billion dollars, or 32% higher than the 4.3 billion dollars barred in transactions. Bitcoin alternatives
It should be noted that the overall trend involves bets on a rise in the price of Ethereum as a result of the upcoming The merge, an event eagerly anticipated by the whole industry, well beyond the asset’s devotees.
In the near future, it should be feasible to evaluate whether such overshoot on technical points or specific metrics are harbingers of paradigm shifts or just symbolize the feverishness of a market recognized for its continual volatility.
