According to Cointelegraph: While Bitcoin's price dwells below its 2023 peak, suggesting an underestimation of the $44,000 resistance's strength, it doesn't rule out the possibility of achieving a $50,000 value and higher. Bitcoin derivatives metrics demonstrate traders' unwavering positivity despite Bitcoin's price dipping by 6.9%.
Bitcoin's decrease of 7% in less than 20 minutes on Dec. 11, stimulated by the $127 million liquidation of leveraged long Bitcoin futures, could be seen as meaningful. However, this represents only less than 1% of the total open interest, and the 4.2% price bounce back after scraping a low at $40,200 on Dec. 11 disregards the notion of a crash exclusively propelled by futures markets.
To ascertain if the optimism of Bitcoin whales and market makers remains intact, one should observe the Bitcoin futures premium, often known as the basis rate. The Bitcoin futures premium remained above the 10% bullish threshold despite Bitcoin's intraday 9% decrease on Dec. 11. A significant excess short demand would have pushed the measure to at least the neutral range of 5% to 10%.
Bitcoin's options markets also exhibit consistent trader confidence despite the recent decrease. The 25% delta skew demonstrates a balanced cost for both call and put options since Dec. 5, showcasing resilience following the 6.1% correction since Dec. 10.
Bitcoin perpetual futures 8-hour funding rate. Source: Coinglass
The funding rate of perpetual contracts (inverse swaps) underwent a modest increase from Dec. 8 to Dec. 10, indicating a minimal rise in long positions' leverage demand. This suggests that the rally and subsequent corrections were primarily driven by the spot market rather than excessive retail leverage longs.
Though predictions of a bottom are not definitive, the likelihood of cascading liquidations due to unfounded optimism surrounding a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) approval is significantly reduced, offering good news for Bitcoin bulls. The positive momentum appears to remain strong within derivatives data despite the price correction.