Leading digital assets, Bitcoin has undergone a price correction to trade at $15,708, making a bearish turn from its recent 2020 high level of $16,491.
Going by trends of previous events, Bitcoin has always carried Ethereum along anytime it is on a bullish run, but it was not so this time. Ethereum refused to make a bullish run like Bitcoin did, and the second digital asset, according to market cap, saw its price stall close to seller congestion at $470. Bitcoin is currently enjoying a swell time in the market after seeing the bulls take charge to drive its price to a new yearly high.
Bitcoin has witnessed a 300% gain from its yearly lows
A look back into the last eight months shows that Bitcoin has experienced a 300% gain from its previous yearly low, which came in March. Notably, the previous Bitcoin price is seen as the highest level that the coin has touched in 34 months, dating back to January 2018.
On its part, Ethereum touched its all-time high record when it touched $1,432 in 2018, months after Bitcoin just experienced its all-time high record of $20,089 in 2017. Now, the difference between the current price of Ethereum compared to its all-time high record is very far while that of Bitcoin is a little bit close.
December has always been seen as a historic month in the crypto market, and traders and investors are eagerly anticipating what this year has in store for them. The big question is: will history be on their side and favor them, or will it be against them?
A look into what could happen in the next few weeks shows can be seen in the options market data; it has always shown vital insights on market sentiment. It should be noted that when Ethereum saw a 23% price surge, the digital asset didn’t join Bitcoins surge then, and the same event is playing out now.
Bitcoin options currently bullish
A look into the options market data shows that 28% of Ethereum markets options open interest currently stands at $460 or higher. It should be noted that this figure was derived from the over $613 million that is presently in Ether markets open interest.
Looking into the highest Ethereum contracts for December shows that it is quite bullish at it stands around a figure close to $1,120. However, Bitcoin options have been more bullish because they are almost $50,000 call options placed a long time ago for June and December 2021.
Unlike the Ethereum market, Bitcoin options markets had seen some massive bets placed above $17,000, with about 40% of the current $3.75 billion worth of Bitcoin options open interest already close to $16,000 and above. A notable event that caused the Bitcoin surge in 2017 was the influx of retail traders into the market.
Also, cash-settled Bitcoin futures were introduced by CME close to when the price of the leading digital asset peaked in 2017. In the months that followed, Bitcoin experienced a massive bearish run and set a multi-year bearish returns record in the process.