Market Wrap: Bitcoin Tests $11.5K; Ether Futures Open Interest Flattens

Oct 15, 2020 at 20:22 UTCUpdated Oct 15, 2020 at 20:23 UTC.Bitcoin is turning bullish Thursday while ether futures open interest sticks around $1 billion the past month.

Bitcoin trading around $11,537 as of 20:00 UTC. Gaining 1.5% over the previous 24 hours.

Rew Tu, an executive at trading firm Efficient Frontier, said this phenomenon, often known as "Resistance" where traders take profits, creates sell momentum and holds back bitcoin from pushing higher.

"It may be that we fail to stay above $11,500 and begin to range from $10,500-$11,400." With the exception of a quick bounce to as high as $11,730 on Oct. 13, bitcoin has been in $11,400-$11,500 territory most of the past week.

"Looking back at 2020 so far, bitcoin is on a nice and steady walk upwards," said Henrik Kugelberg, an over-the-counter crypto trader based in Sweden.

"It is very fortunate that we have bitcoin to look at when most other macro things look gloomy, to say the least."

BItcoin is trouncing traditional investment hedges such as gold and even silver.

While gold is up 26% in 2020 and silver has gained 35%, bitcoin has climbed 57%."There will always be plunges, bull runs and plateaus with bitcoin," Kugelberg added.

Efficient Frontier's Tu sees significant upside if bitcoin can get over the $12,000 price point.

Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was up Thursday trading around $378 and climbing 0.74% in 24 hours as of 20:00 UTC.The ether futures market has stagnated in the past month, hovering around $1 billion in open interest per day after hitting record numbers on Aug. 15 and Sept. 1, when it briefly surpassed $1.7 billion.