TechFlow news, November 12 — According to Bloomberg, leverage in the cryptocurrency market is rising, with open interest in futures and options markets at elevated levels. CME Group's Bitcoin futures contracts are among the most popular ways for U.S. institutional investors to increase leverage, while overseas traders typically use perpetual contracts and options on various exchanges to place bets. Ravi Doshi, Head of Markets at prime broker FalconX, said: "At these levels, traditional financial institutions are lending dollars into the crypto market via short positions to earn an annualized yield of 18% before the end of November. As yields continue to expand, FalconX’s derivatives desk has seen strong interest in this trade."
Bitcoin options traders have set their sights on the milestone price of $100,000 for the original cryptocurrency. According to data from cryptocurrency options exchange Deribit, investors are lining up to bet that Bitcoin will surpass this level by year-end. On Monday, Deribit data showed 9,635 BTC (worth approximately $780 million) in open interest betting that Bitcoin will reach $100,000 by December 27—the highest concentration of such bets for any single strike at that expiry date. Deribit assigns a 18.6% probability to this outcome.
