Bitcoin Futures ETF in the Works.
Bitcoin Futures ETF in the Works. The Battle for the ATH Is On
by Bogdan Giulvezan
Today Bitcoin reached $60,000 for the first time since April and looks poised for additional gains as bullish pressure is mounting. The reason: the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is likely to allow the first U.S. Bitcoin futures ETF to begin trading as soon as next week.
The news was first reported by Bloomberg and according to the report, “the regulator isn’t likely to block the products from starting to trade next week”. The information comes from people familiar with the matter, but who asked not to be named.
If this comes to fruition, it will be a huge win for cryptocurrency in general and especially for Bitcoin, mainly because approval has been sought out for years but it remained elusive for various reasons. The biggest contention point for the SEC was always Bitcoin’s volatility but other factors such as hackers and possible price manipulation were also brought into the discussion.
It must be noted that there’s a difference between the previous ETF applications and the current one: the latter is based on futures contracts and filed under the rules of mutual funds. According to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, this provides “significant investor protections”, hence the increased probability of approval.
If the ETF goes through, it would be the culmination of an almost decade-long “battle”, considering that the first ETF application was filed by the Winklevoss twins back in 2013. It would also serve as a confirmation of mainstream recognition, which would likely lead to market cap swelling and institutional money pouring in.
Chart Analysis – BTC/USD
Since the second bounce on the support at $40,000, Bitcoin literally took off like a rocket and is now testing the resistance at $59,000. Although BTC briefly touched $60,000, we cannot consider $59,000 broken until the current daily candle closes above it. Of course, $60,000 is also a key level from a psychological standpoint (big round number) and will play an important part in future price action.
If the $59K – $60K zone is broken, we are headed for the All-Time High at $64,895 but we will likely see a retracement before that happens because the pair has been climbing aggressively since the end of September and the indicators show signs of overextension.
The RSI has been bouncing on the overbought level since October 6 and the MACD lines are slightly coming together, which indicates that momentum is fading. However, if the futures ETF will begin trading as soon as next week, the MACD, RSI, and other technical indicators will probably be overlooked and volatility will increase.
