First Mover Americas: Bitcoin Hits New Highs as ETF Options Traders Go Degen

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Bitcoin BTC$90,491.91 is eyeing record highs once again heading into Wednesday's U.S. session. The largest crypto is trading just below $94,000, the new record from Tuesday, and leading the broader market with a 2% climb over the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, the broad-market CoinDesk 20 Index was little changed and large-cap altcoins ether ETH$3,065.05 and solana SOL$132.37 fell. Options on BlackRock's spot bitcoin ETF (IBIT) saw staggering first-day trading activity yesterday, pushing the BTC price higher, analysts noted. Most of the activity focused on calls, representing a bullish view, with some traders betting on a doubling of IBIT's share price. "It’s pretty interesting to see 'professionals' degen into $100 strikes (this effectively means a doubling of BTC prices given IBIT trades near $50)," crypto quant researcher Samneet Chepal noted. Options on other BTC ETFs will follow in the coming days, fueling more activity. It's not only bitcoin where the crypto action is concentrated, though. Trading volumes for popular altcoins dogecoin DOGE$0.1384 and XRP XRP$2.0482 surpassed BTC's on South Korean crypto exchanges Upbit and Bithumb.

MicroStrategy (MSTR) broke into the top 100 U.S. publicly traded companies by market capitalization as its share price closed Tuesday's session at a record $430, far above its dotcom bubble highs. The firm owns the largest corporate bitcoin treasury in the world and its shares have rallied 528% this year, outperforming bitcoin and chipmaker giant Nvidia (NVDA). The developments keep coming for the firm, CoinDesk analyst James Van Straten noted. On Monday, it announced a $1.75 billion 5-year convertible senior note issuance at a 0% coupon. "We are waiting on further developments if this convertible note has been oversubscribed, which would increase its issuance by $250 million, for a total of $2 billion," Van Straten said.

Robinhood (HOOD) is poised to benefit the most from crypto deregulation in the U.S. under President-elect Donald Trump, broker Bernstein said in a report. The trading app can drive higher revenues by listing new tokens and introducing new crypto product lines to target the wider opportunity, the report said. Robinhood's acquisition of EU-based exchange Bitstamp and its European platform should "further boost value added crypto services," the authors wrote. Bernstein raised the price target for Robinhood shares to $51 from $30, which would translate to a 45% appreciation from Tuesday's closing price.

Chart of the Day

• This might be the most important chart in financial markets. The yield on the U.S. 10-year note, the so-called risk-free rate, is at a make-or-break level.
• It could break out above the downtrend line or turn lower, forming a head-and-shoulder top. The latter will likely bode well for risk assets, unless accompanied by a black swan.
• Source: TradingView

- Omkar Godbole

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