Mike Smith
4 days ago
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The focus of major crypto market players is on rapidly growing Ethereum. Analytical data from futures and options markets signal a noticeable reorientation of capital from Bitcoin to ETH. According to Omkar Godbole, co-managing editor of CoinDesk, such dynamics indicate a potential shift in the balance of power among digital assets.
The largest derivatives platform Deribit is recording active purchase of call options on Ethereum, while risk indicators for Ether show a more pronounced upward trend than for BTC. This suggests that market participants are increasingly betting on the second-largest crypto asset by capitalization.
Open interest indicators reinforce this signal. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange has recorded a 186% increase in ETH futures volumes since the beginning of April, to $3.15 billion. Moreover, the growth has accelerated significantly over the past two weeks. For comparison, the same indicator for Bitcoin has grown by 70% and reached $17 billion, but has recently remained stable without further expansion.
Additional confirmation is provided by premiums on monthly futures: according to Velo, ETH contracts are traded with an annual premium of 10.57%, the highest since January. BTC derivatives look less attractive against this background, offering 8.74%.
Perpetual contract financing rates also speak in favor of Ethereum. On offshore platforms, they approached 8%, while Bitcoin remains below 5%. This is another indirect sign that investor activity is on the side of Ethereum.
It is noteworthy that Bernstein analysts in mid-May named three key factors contributing to the growth of Ethereum. Although the details of these drivers remain beyond the scope of the current review, their influence, judging by the current metrics, is already felt in the allocation of capital and in the structure of derivative transactions.
