Ahead of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) upcoming judgement on spot ETF applications, MacroMicro’s bitcoin futures smart money index hit a record 13,711, signalling a significant preference for bullish long bets. Based on the CFTC’s weekly Commitment of Traders report, the Taiwan-based data tracking website’s index calculates the spread between large investors’ open long and short positions on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
The 5 BTC cash-settled standard bitcoin futures contracts offered by CME are seen as a good representation of institutional activity since they give market players access to cryptocurrencies in a regulated environment without requiring them to hold any of them. This quarter, the smart money index has experienced a significant increase due to the spot ETF narrative and growing expectations of a 2024 Fed rate decrease. According to reports, the SEC has set January 10 as the cutoff date for accepting or rejecting an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that is based on bitcoin.
With the possible introduction of one or more spot ETFs, observers anticipate record inflows into the asset class, which has helped to propel the price of bitcoin up about 60% this quarter. Nonetheless, other analysts, including the market insights team at Singapore-based QCP Capital, forecast a traditional “sell the news” scenario during the second week of January, with a potential regression to $36,000 levels prior to the uptrend resuming. Before the mining incentive is halved in April, the upward trend is anticipated to continue.
