OTC Weekly Trading Insights (11/21/2024)

Top Interest of the WeekClover Finance ($CLV) has recently unveiled the CLV 2.0 upgrade. This upgrade's roadmap features the launch of an Automated Market Maker (AMM) on its decentralized exchange (DEX) liquidity platform, a Token Launcher program that enables other projects to create new tokens on the CLV network, SocialFi integration, and an upgrade and migration of ERC20 tokens. The announcement has sparked significant interest among investors, resulting in a remarkable 271.5% increase in value within just a week. This price movement indicates strong investor confidence in the positive effects this upgrade will have on the CLV ecosystem.Secret ($SCRT) operates as a Layer 1 blockchain dedicated to decentralized confidential computing. The recent rally in its price highlights a growing global demand for privacy-focused blockchain solutions, a trend that the Secret Foundation attributes to its innovative developments, particularly the NewDeCC (Decentralized Confidential Computing) initiative.A report indicates that President-elect Trump is considering appointing crypto attorney Teresa Goody Guillén as the head of the SEC, signalling a supportive stance towards the cryptocurrency sector. In this optimistic context, a list of coins and tokens that have been scrutinized by the SEC experienced a significant price rally, fueled by hopes that the new SEC chair will alleviate existing charges and investigations. Also, the market expects potential new ETF applications to be approved in a shorter period. Notably, Hedera ($HBAR) and Ripple ($XRP) saw their prices surge by 109.1% and 60.4%, respectively, in response to this news.Overall MarketThe above chart is the BTC daily K-line chart.Bitcoin (BTC) has continued its impressive upward trajectory following the recent US election day, reaching a remarkable new all-time high of 95,895 USDT at the time of this writing. This surge in value can be attributed to a combination of factors, most notably significant capital inflows from the exchange-traded fund (ETF) sector. Additionally, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of publicly traded companies that are adopting Bitcoin into their balance sheets, further legitimizing the cryptocurrency as a viable asset class.One of the standout players in this landscape is MicroStrategy, a publicly traded firm led by the outspoken Bitcoin advocate Michael Saylor. Since November 5, the day of the US elections, MicroStrategy's stock price has skyrocketed by over 110%. During the same period, Bitcoin itself has experienced a substantial rise of approximately 40%. This dramatic increase in MicroStrategy's share price reflects a robust investor appetite for leveraged exposure to Bitcoin. The company's strategic approach involves accumulating and holding Bitcoin on its balance sheet, which tends to drive up its stock price as the value of BTC appreciates. Furthermore, MicroStrategy has actively engaged in share offerings to raise capital specifically to acquire more Bitcoin. As the price of Bitcoin continues to ascend, this buy-and-hold strategy is likely to create a positive feedback loop, further enhancing the stock price and encouraging additional Bitcoin purchases.However, MicroStrategy's buy-and-hold approach is no longer the only avenue available for investors and traders seeking leveraged exposure to Bitcoin. The recent introduction of options trading on BlackRock’s IBIT, the largest Bitcoin spot ETF by assets under management, on the Nasdaq exchange, has opened up new possibilities for investors. This development allows investors to leverage derivatives to gain enhanced exposure to Bitcoin, providing them with more tools to manage their investments. The availability of Bitcoin ETF options not only broadens the investment landscape but also enables investors to optimize their yields, leading to more accurate return expectations. As a result, this innovation is anticipated to attract increased market interest and capital into Bitcoin, which will, in turn, benefit the broader cryptocurrency sector.Options MarketThe above is the 25-delta skew table for BTC and ETH options.As the rally in Bitcoin (BTC) prices continues to gain momentum, the prevailing bullish sentiment surrounding BTC remains robust. This is particularly evident in the options market, where the 25-delta skew for BTC options set to expire in seven days is currently reflecting a premium of 3.74. This premium indicates that traders are willing to pay more for upside potentials on BTC, suggesting a strong belief in its potential for further price appreciation. In stark contrast, Ethereum (ETH) options with the same expiration date show a much lower premium of 2.84. This discrepancy highlights a notable difference in investor sentiment, with a clear preference for BTC over ETH at this time.Moreover, the data reveals that the bullish outlook for medium- to long-term options is even more pronounced for BTC compared to ETH. This trend may be largely attributed to the recent underperformance of ETH in the market. While BTC has successfully reached multiple new all-time highs, ETH is struggling to maintain its value, currently trading below the $3,100 mark. This is a stark contrast to its previous peak of $4,868, which it achieved three years ago. The significant gap between ETH's current price and its historical high may be contributing to the more cautious sentiment among investors regarding ETH's future performance.Our analysis indicates that market attention is likely to remain heavily focused on BTC in the upcoming weeks. Given the current bullish sentiment and the potential for further upward movement, it seems plausible that BTC could continue to attract investor interest and capital. This could lead to additional price gains before any significant shift in market sentiment occurs. The 25-delta skew serves as a valuable tool for gauging market sentiment, providing insights into how traders are positioning themselves about potential price movements. As such, it will be important for investors to monitor these indicators closely better to understand the evolving dynamics of the cryptocurrency market.Macro at a glance Last Thursday (24-11-14)Initial jobless claims in the US have declined, falling from 221,000 last week to 217,000 this week, below the anticipated 224,000. This strong performance in the US labour market reinforces the Federal Reserve's cautious approach to potential rate cuts in the coming year. In October, the Producer Price Index (PPI) experienced a monthly increase of 0.2%, slightly above the 0.1% growth recorded in September. The core PPI rose by 0.3% month-over-month, surpassing September's 0.2% increase. These PPI figures indicate upward pressure on inflation in the US and support a more gradual approach to rate cuts by the Federal Reserve in the coming months.Last Friday (24-11-15)Japan's GDP growth for the third quarter stands at 0.9%, surpassing economists' expectations of 0.7%. However, the growth rate for the second quarter has been revised down from 2.9% to 2.2%. In the UK, the annual GDP growth rate for Q3 is reported at 1.0%, significantly exceeding the anticipated 0.1% and showing an improvement from the 0.7% growth recorded in Q2.In the United States, retail sales experienced a monthly increase of 0.4% in October, outperforming the forecast of 0.3%. The figure for September has also been adjusted upward from 0.4% to 0.8%. However, core retail sales only registered a 0.1% monthly growth, falling short of the expected 0.3%, with September's figure revised from 0.5% to 1.0%.On Tuesday (24-11-19)Eurozone CPI experienced a monthly growth of 0.3% in October, recovering from a decline of 0.1% in September. The annual CPI growth rate remained steady at 2.0%, consistent with September, while the core CPI growth rate also held at 2.7%.In Canada, the CPI recorded a monthly increase of 0.4% in October, bouncing back from a 0.4% decrease noted in September. The core CPI similarly saw a growth rate of 0.4%.In the UK, the CPI rose by 0.6% on a monthly basis in October, compared to a growth rate of 0.0% in September. The annual CPI growth reached 2.3%, surpassing the anticipated 2.2% for October and recovering from the 1.7% recorded in September.Convert Portal Volume ChangeThe above table shows the volume change on our Convert Portal by zone. BTC has been gradually moving higher after a rapid increase following the US election day, while altcoins have shown remarkable performance over the past week. Following the rise of large-cap altcoins, our team noted that medium- to small-cap altcoins started to attract more attention from traders.In the Monitoring sector, a significant rise in trading volume can be attributed to the exceptionally high activity surrounding Clover Finance ($CLV). The strong demand for the CLV token led to a 237.5% increase in volume within the Monitoring zone over the past week.The Polkadot sector saw an impressive 116.1% growth in trading volume, largely driven by heightened interest in Acala ($ACA).Furthermore, the RWA sector experienced a notable 88.5% uptick in trading activity, with MANTRA ($OM) drawing substantial market interest and undergoing a significant price surge.Why trade OTC?  Binance offers our clients various ways to access OTC trading, including chat communication channels and the Binance OTC platform (https://www.binance.com/en/otc) for manual price quotations, Algo Orders, or automated price quotations via Binance Convert and Block Trade platform (https://www.binance.com/en/convert) and the Binance Convert OTC API. Email: [email protected] for more information.Join our Telegram (https://t.me/BinanceOTC) to stay up to date with the markets!