The futures open interest in Bitcoin and Ethereum for the month of August so far has already surpassed the futures open interest for the entire month of July.
Crypto prices pulled back last week as the world’s largest crypto Bitcoin (BTC) now moving closer to $24,000. On the other hand, Ether (ETH) is currently trading above the $1,700 level. As the Bitcoin and Ether activity heats up, the futures volume for both these crypto assets has also shot up. The crypto futures volume basically indicates the value of all outstanding contracts yet to settle. The Bitcoin futures open interest for August is currently at $1.54 billion. Within the first week itself, it has moved past the July numbers of $1.47 billion.
Last week in the crypto market was quite eventful. MicroStrategy‘s Michael Saylor stepped down from the role of CEO. However, he now serves as the company’s executive chairman and will completely focus on their Bitcoin acquisition strategy.
Also, MicroStrategy reported a staggering $1 billion loss during the second quarter of 2022. A majority of which due as part of the Bitcoin impairment losses due to the severe crash in the BTC price in Q2.
On the other hand, the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock announced that it is partnering with crypto exchange Coinbase. This move aims to provide crypto exposure to its institutional clients.
Key Macro Factors to Watch Ahead
Ahead this week on August 10, the United States will release its inflation numbers for the month of July. Many analysts believe that the period of peak inflation is past us. This means that the Federal Reserve and other central banks will be less hawkish. Thus, instead of quick measures, they would be gradually raising interest rates to bring inflation under control.
Singapore-based market maker QCP Capital said that the economic data globally is showing signs of slowing growth. The firm also noted that there are clear signs of an impending global recession. Thus, it expects the market to trade sideways in the coming weeks.
On the other hand, QCP noted that there’s an increasing concern that the Merge upgrade for Ethereum will not turn out as smoothly as expected. There have been recent talks that the Ethereum blockchain might undergo a hard fork — creating two active chains, the Ethereum PoW and the Ethereum PoS.
If the Ethereum PoW chain continues to retain some crucial value, it could lead to significant disruption in the ETH price. The Ethereum Merge is just another 40-45 days from the current stage.
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