Cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) struggled against bearish forces on Friday as options worth billions of dollars expired, leading to a dip in its market value. Analysts noted certain tradings to have contributed to the downswing in the market, primarily the bearish bet taken on the Ethereum-based version of Bitcoin, namely WBTC.

Market makers, who provide liquidity by creating and ordering buy and sell orders in an attempt to keep the market neutral, have been trading the underlying cryptocurrency in the spot market or through perpetual futures. Such trading efforts provided a context for Bitcoin's slip to $27,546 from $28,100 in the hour leading up to the quarterly contracts due at 08:00 UTC. An analysis of Deribit based perpetual futures also revealed a sharp drop in the cumulative volume delta, a metric indicating buyers' strength, shortly before the predetermined settlement time.

The sales of borrowed WBTC may have additionally contributed to Bitcoin's dip. WBTC is the largest tokenised version of Bitcoin on Ethereum and can be swapped for the actual Bitcoin at a 1:1 ratio. There is evidence to suggest traders have amplified their bearish sentiments on Bitcoin by borrowing WBTC from major DeFi platforms like Aave. Data monitored by Santiment showed around 3,220 BTC borrowed from Aave, a 29% increase in the space of two weeks, prior to the downswing in Bitcoin. Interestingly, past increases in the number of WBTC borrowed corresponded to a price drop and thus a local bottom, potentially providing evidence of the influence this activity has over the coin's market.



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