The open interest in Ether perpetual futures is growing on centralized exchanges, reaching a historical record on Deribit.
Specifically, the increase in the funding rate of perpetual futures on Ether, since the beginning of February, highlights a surge in demand for long positions, that is, buying.
This phenomenon reflects a growing interest from investors and indicates a significant trend in the perpetual Ether futures market on this exchange. Let’s see all the details below.
The growth of open interest in perpetual Ether futures
As anticipated, the open interest in perpetual Ether futures has seen a significant increase on major centralized cryptocurrency derivatives exchanges since the beginning of February, highlighting a growth of +0.99%.
Currently, the total open interest for ETH futures on various exchanges exceeds $10.1 billion, as reported by Coinglass.
The total number of perpetual futures contracts circulating for Ether on Deribit, a well-known cryptocurrency derivatives exchange, has reached a historical high, with an open interest that now exceeds $690 million, according to available statistics.
We remind you that perpetual contracts, characterized by the absence of an expiration date, allow traders to maintain positions indefinitely.
This increase in open interest suggests an increase in trading activity and interest in Ether derivatives.
However, it could also indicate an increase in market attention, speculation, or hedging activities, especially in anticipation of possible upcoming price catalysts.
One of these possible catalysts could be the imminent approval of a spot ETF on Ether by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in the coming months.
A sign of this emerging interest is the recent filing of an S-1 registration statement with the SEC by Franklin Templeton and other asset managers, indicating the possible launch of a spot Ether ETF.
In addition, according to The Block‘s Data Dashboard, the daily open interest in Ether futures on Binance, ByBit, OKX, and CME is also increasing.
Among these centralized exchanges, data shows that the open interest in Ether futures on Binance has recently reached a multi-month high of nearly 3 billion dollars.
The increase in the financing rate on Deribit
Since February, the financing rate of perpetual Ether futures contracts on the centralized derivatives exchange Deribit has increased from 0.00045% to the current value of 0.035%.
This increase highlights a significant change in the trading landscape, as long positions (buyers) now pay more to short positions (sellers).
This phenomenon suggests a clear growing demand for long positions on Ether futures in the derivatives market.
This increase could reflect a more bullish sentiment towards the digital asset, indicating that a growing number of traders are predicting an imminent upward movement in the price of Ether in the coming months.
In line with this scenario, the price of Ether has already recorded an increase of 1.57%, reaching a price of about $2,841, as reported according to the latest data.
This overall dynamic provides an important perspective on the current trend and possible future of operations related to Ether Futures.
Ethereum co-founder transfers $38 million in ETH to Kraken
Recently, Arkham, a blockchain analysis company, revealed that Jeffrey Wilcke, one of the co-founders of Ethereum, made a transfer of over 38 million dollars in Ethereum (ETH).
This move was made in response to the rise in Ethereum prices.
The transfer, documented on Etherscan, shows that Wilcke deposited a significant portion of ETH on Kraken on the morning of February 14, 2024. Currently, he still owns approximately 135,738 Ethereum, which amounts to over 379 million dollars.
Although the reason for this move is still unclear, market observers and analysts suggest that it could be part of a plan to sell these holdings on the open market on Kraken.