Nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed. The altcoin market yesterday welcomed XRP, Dogecoin and Zcash. However, the light passed this Thursday, September 24 on two tokens that most people were not looking at. Bitcoin Cash jumped more than 30% in one session and Uniswap almost 20%.
The trigger came from Chicago. The CME promised futures contracts on these two cryptos, while bitcoin fell back towards $84,300. On the other hand, several stars of the week are already giving back part of their winnings.
Bitcoin Cash: the old fork finds buyers in suits
On Tuesday, CME Group announced Bitcoin Cash and Uniswap futures contracts for October 19. Their launch, however, remains subject to the regulatory green light. The standard contract will cover 250 BCH and the micro version will cover 25 BCH, according to the CME press release. However, the market did not wait. In 90 minutes, Bitcoin Cash went from $270 to $328.
BCH then hit $358, more than 30% in one session. Then a second fuel was added. Grayscale has filed the request to convert its Bitcoin Cash trust into an ETF listed on NYSE Arca, under the ticker BCHG. Nuance matters. Indeed, CME futures are settled in cash and do not require anyone to buy a single BCH. A spot ETF would have to buy for every dollar collected.
The cousin followed, for no real reason of his own. Bitcoin SV, born from a split from Bitcoin Cash in 2018, gained between 7 and 17% depending on the platform. It thus exceeds 22 dollars, driven mainly by purchases concentrated on the South Korean platform Upbit. Did you say speculation?
Uniswap: the first DEX token to enter the CME
Uniswap is experiencing the same story with one more detail. Indeed, UNI will become the first token of a decentralized exchange platform (DEX) to have futures on the CME. The contracts will be for 10,000 UNI. The price rose about 19% on Wednesday to $10.44. Over seven days, the increase is close to 66%.
The most telling figure is found in derivative products. UNI open interest (the total amount of leveraged positions still open) has exceeded $1 billion, the highest since September 2020. In other words, much of the rise is based on leverage. However, the day the wind turns, these positions all unwind together.
Zcash, Cardano, XRP: the altcoins of the week slow down
Zcash reached its highest level since 2016 on Wednesday, at $1,643. The launch by 21Shares of Europe's first Zcash ETP (crypto-backed listed product), on Euronext Paris and Amsterdam, served as a detonator. This morning, ZEC fell back to around $1,500. However, it remains up more than 10% over the week.
Same scenario for Cardano. ADA touched $0.262 on Wednesday after jumping around 30% in seven days. This rally was based on the accumulation of large portfolios and positive funding rates on perpetual contracts. However, the token fell back towards $0.24 this morning.
XRP returned its victory from yesterday. The Ripple token is trading around $1.50, down around 5% over 24 hours, while it exceeded $1.58 on Wednesday morning. Furthermore, Ether is running below $2,700 and Solana around $115. The fault lies mainly with the American ten-year rate, which rose above 5.1% on Wednesday. However, this level cools all assets without yield.
