BTC Price Reaches $52K as CME Bitcoin Futures Set Record OI of $6.8B

Bitcoin experienced a slight dip in price, reaching its lowest levels in several days at $50,680 on Bitstamp. It quickly rebounded by nearly $1,500 in the following hours. The cryptocurrency consolidated around the $52,000 mark and did not retest its recent lows at the time of writing. Analysts noted a change in trader behavior during the latter half of the week, with less spot buying and more taker-driven dips and bounces. Binance spot was leading the return of spot buyers. Open interest on CME Group’s Bitcoin futures markets reached a record high of $6.8 billion, indicating potential volatility in the future.

Some traders argued that the recent rally in Bitcoin has been healthy despite the surge in leverage. They pointed out that funding has mostly remained at a neutral rate and open interest denominated in BTC has been lower. When denominated in USD, open interest has increased as the value of the underlying asset, BTC, has gone up. To maintain upward momentum, bulls need to preserve Bitcoin’s relative strength index (RSI) on 4-hour timeframes and keep an eye on the 21-period exponential moving average (EMA) at $51,500.

Spot flows around the $52,000 to $53,000 range have seen notable selling into bounces, which is common during profit-taking. The key for the current uptrend is to have sufficient spot demand on dips, where limit buying outweighs taker selling. Traders identified $49,000 as the critical level to protect for the weekly close.