A high-profile situation that eventually led to CZ leaving his role as CEO of Binance has not distracted traders from their interest in Bitcoin.
Crypto traders appear to be unbothered about the industry-shaping events of the last 24 hours. On Tuesday, November 21, reports circulated that both Binance exchange and its chief Changpeng “CZ” Zhao had agreed to a criminal settlement that would see the exchange pay $4.3 billion in fines. However, such a high-profile situation that eventually led to CZ leaving his role as CEO of Binance has not distracted traders from their interest in Bitcoin.
For what it’s worth, the Binance case may be the biggest one that the crypto market has seen since the collapse of the FTX exchange last November. But while it was expected to bring about some panic among traders, the reverse may just be the case.
Bullish Sentiment for Bitcoin after the News on Binance Case
Pointing out the remarkable stance of traders, over-the-counter institutional crypto trading network Paradigm confirms that the options market is currently seeing increased activity in topside Bitcoin call options. Much against expectations, but yet a sign of bullish sentiment. That is according to Paradigm’s head of institutional sales coverage Patrick Chu, whose statement partly reads:
“We have seen interest in loading up more topside with strong demand for the March 2024 expiry calls.”
In corroboration to Chu’s claims, market analyst at CoinDesk Chang also saw market participants trading the $45,000 BTC in large numbers early Wednesday. At least, 550 contracts were traded for call options which expire in March 2024.
These buyers have an unshakeable belief that Bitcoin will continue to rally in the coming months. So, in line with their belief, they were more than willing to pay premiums totalling $1.5 million for the bullish bets.
For clarity, a call option signifies a contract between a buyer and a seller to purchase the underlying asset at a preset price on or before a particular date. The call buyer simply hopes that prices go up while the put buyer expects otherwise.
Usually, both short-term and long-term calls continue to trade relative to puts. But once there is a positive call-put ratio in the overall sense, then the market is in a bullish trend. And, in this case, market participants certainly do not expect any reasonable blowout from Binance’s present ordeal.
A Mature Crypto Market
It might be worth mentioning that the industry presently displays a certain level of maturity. According to some crypto enthusiasts, events like the Terra crash and the FTX collapse of 2022 have ended up separating the wheat from the chaff. That is only serious investors are now left in the market.
Generally, there is also the sentiment that US regulators have now successfully sanitized the industry, which may usher in an era of US-based spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) approvals.
In any case, expectations are high that, soon, the crypto market will begin to experience massive inflows in investor funds. As of press time, Bitcoin was seen hovering around $36,520, down 1.69% in the last 24 hours.
