Bitcoin Steadies as it Continues to go Mainstream

It’s been a nervous start to the day for Bitcoin, which managed to recover from an intraday low $16,100 to $17,020.68 at the time of writing.

The $1,000 move may be considered significant for some, but the choppiness that raised concerns over the outlook for Bitcoin on Wednesday continues to be seen this morning. There’s plenty of support at sub-$17,000, but any attempts to move beyond today’s intraday high $17,281.17 have been thwarted thus far.

On the futures market, CME Bitcoin January future’s contract is down $20 to $17,020 adding downward pressure on Bitcoin, though there is some support with the March contract up $300 to $17,600.

With the markets looking to Bitcoin futures for direction, any break out beyond today’s intraday high $17,281.17 is going to be a challenge until the Bitcoin bears ease up on the reins in the futures market

Bitcoin’s upside through the early part of the day is certainly not as a result of any positive market news. We’ve heard from a U.S think tank attributing Bitcoin’s 2017 rally to terrorists investing into the currency, benefitting from its anonymity, while the North Korean’s have also been accused of hacking and stealing Bitcoins from a South Korean Bitcoin exchange

Concerns over both certainly raises the possibility of governments around the world to pressure exchanges to fall under the scrutiny of regulators in the interest of national security. If the think tanks are right, then we would expect any regulatory oversight to have a material impact on Bitcoin.

Get Into Cryptocurrency Trading Today

The Bitcoin market is certainly on a rapid evolutionary path that has already resulted in the launch of the Cboe and CME futures markets. There may have been some disappointment over the volumes seen in the futures markets, but the launch has now led to exchange traded funds and hedge funds proceed on launching Bitcoin focused investment vehicles aimed at investors looking for an actively managed Bitcoin investment.

The New York Stock Exchange was reported to have requested to list 2 ProShares Bitcoin ETFs, which will be tracking the Bitcoin futures market. The markets had been anticipating the filing following the launch of the CME Group’s Bitcoin futures contracts on Monday, with one of the ETFs being Bitcoin futures long, while the other will be shorting Bitcoin futures.

Following in the footsteps of the ETFs will be the hedge funds that are also looking to get in on the action, following substantial gains across the first to market hedge funds that took on Bitcoin ahead of this year’s rally.

Sadly for those looking for significant inflows into Bitcoin off the back of increased interest from exchange traded funds and hedge funds, the fact that they will be gaining exposure through the futures markets will have a materially different effect on Bitcoin’s direction than if they were investing directly and, while we continue to hear plenty of bullish calls for Bitcoin to rally to $50,000 and beyond, speculative investors looking to bring down Bitcoin could hamper those looking for a retirement plan out of Bitcoin 2018.

Buy & Sell Cryptocurrency Instantly