Leveraged Transactions Pushed BTC to $67 Thousand

CoinDesk 20 Index: 2,083.25 -1.73%

Bitcoin (BTC): $67,275.58 -1.53%

Ether (ETH): $2,633.54 -2.74%

S&P 500: 5,853.98 -0.18%

Gold: $2,738.92 +0.64%

Nikkei 225: 38,411.96 -1.39%

Bitcoin’s (BTC) peak at nearly $70,000 over the weekend was short-lived, with the asset falling 2.2 percent to $67,000 earlier today, with all major-cap tokens falling. While BTC fell 2 percent, ether (ETH), Toncoin (TON) and Cardano (ADA) lost up to 3 percent. The value of XRP and BNB Chain (BNB) changed little, while dogecoin (DOGE) fell by about 1 percent. The CoinDesk 20 (CD20) Index, which tracks the largest tokens by market cap, lost 2.1%.

Broker Bernstein stated in his research report that Stripe’s acquisition of Bridge emphasizes the importance of the use of stablecoins in public blockchains. The report noted that US dollar-denominated stablecoins are currently the cheapest method of cross-border payments, costing only 1-2 basis points. Payment processor Stripe has acquired stablecoin platform Bridge for $1.1 billion, according to a statement made by TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington on Sunday and later confirmed by both companies. Bernstein noted that the Bridge deal is the largest crypto acquisition by a major payments company to date.

The launch of the APE ecosystem and its native token has been positively received by options traders on crypto derivatives platform PowerTrade. According to information provided by PowerTrade to CoinDesk, the number of open positions increased by more than 800% in one day, reaching 263,000 ($394.5 thousand), with call options accounting for more than 80% of the total. Most trading is concentrated on the October 22 and October 25 futures contracts, with traders purchasing $2.2 capped call options, which is almost 50% above APE’s current market price. This move in APE options is quite remarkable because the token has a market cap of only $1 billion. Still, open interest and volumes are miniscule compared to the billions of dollars locked in BTC and ETH option contracts listed on Deribit.

The chart shows the 10-year US Treasury bond yield rising at the same pace as Republican candidate Donald Trump’s election victory odds. Trump has promised to impose tariffs on imports, including a 60% tax on Chinese goods coming into the US; If approved, these taxes could contribute to domestic inflation and make it harder for the Fed to lower interest rates. Rising yields are reducing the appeal of investing in risk assets, including cryptocurrencies. Source: Bianco Research