Despite OKEx Scandal There Is An Ascending Channel Bitcoin Price Breakout Thereby Possible 

Bitcoin Price Surges 

The current range may offer opportunities to swing traders as bitcoin prices lost the bullish energy that took the price to $11.7k earlier this week. 

Following the previous week’s news that Square purchased $4,709 BTC earlier this week Bitcoin price entered a bullish breakout to $11,725 whereas since then the price was found to have slumped back into a sideways range. 

Weighing on investor sentiment and bitcoin price are several rejections near $11,500 and the recent news of OKEx thereby halting all of the withdrawals as the CEO operates with an investigation being carried out by Chinese authorities. 

Extinguishing the newly found bullish momentum Bitcoin displayed, the wave of negative news has pulled the majority of altcoin prices back into the red. 

A level that resides in a VPVR gap and that which would probably give way to a further drop of $10,900, the daily time frame signals that losing $11,200 could open the door for the price to retest $11,100. 

There is this statement that Michael van de Poppe ascertains:

Finding difficulty clearing current levels as renewed coronavirus lockdowns are spooking investors as significant support at $11,000 is now a must-hold level to resume the bullish momentum. 

There is a possibility of the price falling below $10K to the 200-MA at $9,750 which is near a CME gap as Van de Poppe suggests that if Bitcoin loses the $11K support. 

Taking a bird’s eye view shows that multiple factors are playing out in Bitcoin’s favour although the current price action is disappointing to bulls who want to see a retest of $12K. 

Especially considering the current economic uncertainties that exist as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic the recent BTC allocations by MicroStrategy, Square, and Stone Ridge are positive. 

On Friday, it was reported that Bakkt Bitcoin exchange reached a new record high for BTC delivery as furthermore volumes are surging again at multiple BTC futures exchanges. 

As buyers show consistent interest in purchasing near this level, bitcoin has largely ignored the majority of the negative news over the past two months and held above the $10K level. 

Support Retests Are Expected

Followed by the most recent breakout to $11,750, it is also worth noting that only about 1.5 weeks have passed since Bitcoin exited a 24-day long compression phase.

The price has thereby retested the $11,200 level as support but a deeper pullback to the 20-MA to test $11K as support as it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary since the bullish breakout occurred. Simply being the retest of the descending trendline from the 2020 high at $12,467 as even a drop to the $10,650 level near the 100-MA would. 

It seems likely that Bitcoin price will trade in the $11,400- $9,700 area, which is a range that may turn out to be a swing trader’s paradise for the short term. 

In This Context There Is A Record-High Bakkt Bitcoin Delivery Exposing Institutional Frenzy For BTC

Demonstrating a clear spike in institutional demand for BTC, Bakkt recorded an all-time high Bitcoin delivery in October. 

Seeing another record-high month from Sept.20 to Oct.20, data from Arcane Research shows Bakkt Bitcoin exchange. From public companies in recent months, this follows a noticeable rise in institutional demand for bitcoin. 

Tailored for institutional investors in the US are Bakkt the digital asset payment platform and derivatives exchange. The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, it is operated by Intercontinental Exchange. 

It typically demonstrated growth in institutional appetite for digital assets when the volume of the Bakkt Bitcoin futures market increases, as it physically settles Bitcoin contracts. 

Showing that the institutional Bitcoin market is growing rapidly is CME, LMAX Digital, and Bakkt volumes. 

Across multiple exchanges in the month of October, Digital Assets Data reflected a significant surge in futures volumes. 

400 BTC contracts are set to expire in October at Bakkt according to the analysts at Arcane Research. The data shows a 14% jump from September month-over-month. 

As it is one of the three widely utilised platforms by institutions alongside LMAX Digital and CME is Bakkt’s volume and open interest are important in gauging institutional activity. 

Signifying rising institutional demand is Arcane Research saying that the substantial increase of futures contract deliveries on Bakkt. Further on the researchers noted that:

This month there was another ATH BTC delivery on Bakkt. With an increase of 14% from September, over 400 BTC futures contracts were held to expiry in October. The demand for bitcoin is increasing among institutional investors with another record-breaking month on Bakkt. 

LMAX Digital and CME are also continuously posting large demand atop the high trading activity on Bakkt. 

LMAX Digital remains the biggest spot exchange in the global market by volume as data from Skew shows. LMAX Digital processed $ 135.6 million worth of BTC in the last 24 hours according to Skew. It is observed that it finally exceeds the daily volume of Coinbase, Kraken, as well as other major retail-focused exchanges.

The exchange surpassing Coinbase depicts the current institutional landscape of Bitcoin since LMAX Digital primarily facilitates trades for institutions. Especially following recent high-profile investments of Square and MicroStrategy there is strong demand coming from institutions. 

The CME Bitcoin futures market has also seen an increase in open interest similar to Bakkt. CME’s Bitcoin open interest rose from $345 million to $561 million since Oct 2 following the monthly expiry for September. 

Finally, Industry Executives View Institutional Growth As A Positive

Expecting the trend of rising institutional appetite for Bitcoin to continue is industry executives and high-net-worth investors in the cryptocurrency market. 

Bitcoin comes to be steadily evolving into a corporate treasury asset is according to Tyler Winklevoss, the billionaire Bitcoin investor as well as the co-founder of Gemini. 

The company emphasised that it considers BTC as the firm’s primary treasury asset when MicroStrategy announced that it acquired $425 million worth of BTC. As Winklevoss wrote: 

On its way to becoming a corporate treasury, the asset is bitcoin.

Leading the charge are Michael Saylor and Jack. Many other companies are soon following as eventually central banks do. Whereas this is just the beginning.