Bitcoin broke out above $19,000 on 24th November sending the market into a euphoric state with many investors expecting the top cryptocurrency to breach and surpass 2017’s ATH of a little below $20,000.
Various exchanges’ data shows after breaching the $19,000 level, Bitcoin went as high as $19,999 on Gemini, $19,892 on Coinbase, $19,777 on Binance, $19,891 on Bitfinex and $19,660 on Kraken.
Amidst the relentless rally, its trading activity on Binance has skyrocketed. Bitcoin has set new record-breaking highs in both spot and Bitcoin futures trading activity on the worlds’ largest crypto exchange by trading volume.
Binance Leading In BTC Spot and Future Trading Activities
Data provided by The Block’s Larry Cermak shows that trading on Binance has reached levels higher than the previous biggest BTC rally between December 2017 and January 2018.
This indicates that while Bitcoin has had several price surges in the last three years, it has never come close as it is now to recording a new ATH with the current rally.
Binance is recording increased trading activity despite giving all US traders a 14-day notice to stop all trading activities on the platform. The rise in trading activity could be associated with increased transactions as affected users move in huge numbers to withdraw all their funds from Binance.
The possibility doesn’t however account for increased trading activity in Binance futures on the exchange. According to on-chain analysis platform Glassnode, Bitcoin futures interest on Binance has hit an ATH of $1.17 Billion.
The futures open interest has been rising steadily throughout the past week from about $700 million, in tandem with the rising interest in Bitcoin on Twitter, according to Igor Igamberdiev, another researcher at The Block.
“Over the past week, the number of tweets mentioning bitcoin has grown 1.5 times. Considering the price approaching ATH, this weekend should be hotter.”
Binance Now Holding Around 25% of Total BTC Futures Market
The Bitcoin futures market totals $4.1 billion with Binance now holding about a quarter of the total as the biggest Bitcoin futures exchange. Other markets such as ByBit and BitMEX have considerable shares at $1.1 billion and $700 million respectively.
Futures, especially in the crypto market are good indicators of market sentiment and speculation trends. Luno Global CEO Marcus Swanepoel said that the current market reflects the general feeling about Bitcoin around the world.
“This #Bitcoin bull run is not just from institutions. Our (retail) volumes in South Africa, Malaysia, Nigeria and Indonesia all trebled over last month and at all the time highs. Emerging market consumers voting with their money and they’re ready for a better financial system.”
Bitcoin has however shown signs of insignificant slow down since reaching $19,000.The coin is down 4.08% in the last 24 hours, trading at $17,033.
