Bitcoin (BTC) price exceeded $64,000 and then quickly retraced to the $63,000 region. The cryptocurrency rapidly climbed to all-time high (ATH) levels. The ongoing surge, backed by strong institutional interest, has increased Bitcoin by 43% since the beginning of 2024.
BTC Futures Trading
Using Coinglass data, the open interest (OI) in BTC futures at the global derivatives exchange CME reached a record level of $8.7 billion. The exchange’s OI has more than tripled since the rally gained momentum in October 2023. CME’s standard futures contract is worth five BTC and can be seen as a barometer of institutional interest in cryptocurrencies.
An increase in institutional interest is also noted in the steady rise of whale entities. According to analyses based on Glassnode’s data, organizations holding at least 1K tokens have seen an increase of about 5% since the beginning of the year and over 7% since October 2023. Whales typically trade large blocks of assets and can therefore have a significant impact on price movements.
Analytics Reports on BTC
Strong buying pressure has clearly led to a bullish trend for BTC. This optimism is also evident in the positions that whales have taken in the Bitcoin futures market. According to Hyblock Capital, whales at the leading exchange Binance had a higher long-term risk compared to individual investors at the time of writing. However, the trend showed that whales reduced their exposure times over the past week. This could be because they expect a sharp correction in the coming days. Cryptocurrency analyst Ali Martinez highlighted the importance of the support level between $61,100 and $61,800 in his March 3 post, stating:
Bitcoin is ready to climb to $65,900 if it stays above this threshold, considering the minimum resistance ahead. Conversely, if BTC falls below this support, a correction could bring it down to $56,970, or even $51,500.
