CME TO CREATE NEW BITCOIN OPTION FOR RETAIL TRADERS
$BTC C$ETH h$XRP icago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group is set to launch its latest options linked to Bitcoin Friday futures on Feb. 24, pending regulatory approval. The move is aimed at meeting growing retail investor demand for crypto derivatives. The option comes in a small contract size—just one-tenth of a Bitcoin, larger than Coinbase’s nano contract but still more affordable than a standard Bitcoin futures contract. Since its debut in September, Bitcoin Friday has seen more than 775,000 contracts traded, proving its popularity among traders.
TRUMP'S ORDER COULD BREAK CRYPTO'S 4-YEAR CYCLE, here's why
Trump Pushes Crypto into the Mainstream? Bitwise CIO Predicts Bitcoin $200K by 2025
Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan believes President Donald Trump's executive order on January 23 could be a major catalyst for mass adoption of crypto. The new SEC regulation also paves the way for banks and Wall Street to enter the market more aggressively.
Hougan highlighted Bitcoin's 4-year cycle pattern, where after major drops in 2014, 2018, and 2022, there is always a recovery. While this cycle could continue, he predicts that corrections will be shorter and less deep in the future, as the industry matures and institutional investors increase.
Another factor driving crypto's legitimacy is the repeal of the SEC's previous rules that hampered crypto custodian services. While the implementation of this new policy will take time, the impact could be huge.
Hougan remains optimistic about the market outlook and reiterated Bitwise’s bold prediction: Bitcoin could reach $200,000 by the end of 2025, with or without a government-designed Bitcoin reserve strategy.
FED HOLDS INTEREST RATES THIS IS A STRONG REACTION FROM TRUMP
The Federal Reserve decided to keep the federal funds rate at 4.25%-4.5% through its January 2025 meeting, as expected. The decision marked a pause in the rate-cutting cycle after three consecutive cuts in 2024 that totaled a full percentage point. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated that the central bank is in no rush to cut rates again, pending further progress in inflation. Reasons Fed Holds Interest Rates
Alt season is a period when altcoins (other than Bitcoin) experience a significant price spike compared to BTC. Here are some signs of alt season:
1. Bitcoin Dominance Drops • If Bitcoin dominance starts to drop significantly, it means more money is flowing into altcoins. • Usually, BTC dominance below 50% can be an early indication of alt season.
2. Ethereum Outperforms Bitcoin • ETH/BTC starts to rise indicating that Ethereum is stronger than Bitcoin, often leading the alt season.
3. Altcoin Market Cap Increases Rapidly • Total altcoin market cap (Total Market Cap Excluding BTC) experiences a sharp spike.
4. Parabolic Moves in Mid & Low Cap Altcoins • Mid and small cap altcoins start to experience drastic price spikes in a short period of time.
5. Altcoin Trading Volume Increases • The surge in trading volume in altcoins indicates increased investor interest.
6. Many New Projects & Hype on Social Media • More and more new projects are going viral and being talked about in the crypto community, Twitter/X, Telegram, and YouTube.
7. NFT & DeFi Rise Again • If the NFT and DeFi sectors boom again, it could be a sign of alt season because they often go hand in hand.
8. FOMO in the Market • Many retail investors are starting to enter altcoins, and the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is starting to be felt in the crypto community.
Conclusion
If several of the above signs occur together, it is likely that alt season is starting or will start. #dyor $ETH $BNB $SOL
When alt season arrives, altcoins that have the potential to pump usually have factors such as market trends, community hype, strong fundamentals, or institutional involvement. Here are some categories of altcoins to watch: 1. Layer 1 & Layer 2 (Strong Ecosystem) • Solana (SOL) – High-speed blockchain, often used in DeFi & NFT. • Avalanche (AVAX) – Fast transaction & low fees. • Near Protocol (NEAR) – Focus on UX and high scalability. • Arbitrum (ARB) & Optimism (OP) – Layer 2 solutions for Ethereum.
Latest Crypto News: Massive Liquidation in SKL Market
Over the past 24 hours, there has been a wave of major liquidations in the crypto market, especially in SKL assets. Here are the key data recorded: 1. Total Liquidations: $665K, consisting of: • Longs: $275.2K • Shorts: $389.8K 2. Number of Traders Liquidated: Over 129,852 traders were liquidated with a combined value of over $326.71M across various crypto assets. 3. Largest Liquidations: The largest single liquidation order occurred in the Binance-BTC pair, with a value of $15.17M.
Long/Short Ratio on Major Exchanges for SKL (Last 30 Minutes): • Binance: Longs 52.4% vs Shorts 47.6% • BingX: Longs 49.3% vs Shorts 50.7% • Gate.io: Longs 60.9% vs Shorts 39.1% • Crypto.com & Kraken: No long activity, 100% shorts.
This data analysis shows a strong short squeeze, especially on some major exchanges. However, some platforms like Gate.io have seen a dominance of longs.
This large move serves as a warning for investors to stay alert to the high volatility in the crypto market.
Note: Data is obtained from the latest crypto liquidation tracking platform.
Solv Protocol Token (SOLV) – Complete Education 1. What is Solv Protocol? Solv Protocol is a platform focused on structured finance in the crypto space. Its goal is to create more flexible and programmable blockchain-based financial instruments, such as financial vouchers, that allow various forms of tokenized assets to be invested, locked, or allocated in a more efficient manner. Solv Protocol uses the concept of “Solv Vouchers”, which allows tokens to be locked and released over a period of time, similar to the vesting mechanism in the traditional investment world.
Open Campus $EDU , a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) focused on onchain education, launched its layer-3 blockchain, EDU Chain, on Arbitrum Orbit.
The blockchain, introduced on Jan. 17, is designed to support educational apps and onchain education powered by the EDU token.
EDU Chain’s standout feature is the Open Campus (OC) Achievement system, formerly known as Verifiable Credentials. This system allows educational institutions and training centers to issue decentralized, tamper-proof records of learners’ qualifications.
“Open Campus Achievements, currently in private beta, is a decentralized universal system that enables educational institutions and training centers to issue records of learners’ qualifications and accomplishments,” Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands and a council member of the EDU Foundation, told Cointelegraph.
According to Siu, OC Achievements are self-sovereign records stored in a learner’s digital wallet, wholly owned and controlled by the learner. No entity, including OC, can access the data without the learner’s permission.
EDU Chain has reached $150 million in total value locked (TVL), making it the largest layer-3 blockchain by this metric, according to L2Beat. The mainnet launch follows a testnet campaign with 86.2 million transactions and 358,684 unique active wallets. Developers behind 47 decentralized applications (DApps) from the testnet are now deploying their applications on the mainnet.
The Federal Reserve or The Fed maintained its benchmark interest rate at 4.25%-4.50% in the Federal Open Market Committee or FOMC for the January 2025 period. The FOMC voted unanimously to maintain The Fed's interest rate after the United States (US) central bank lowered interest rates by one percentage point at the end of 2024. Fed Governor Jerome Powell explained that inflation remains quite high, but has reached its 2% target. The Fed also noted that the unemployment rate has stabilized at a low level. "With our policy stance much looser than before, and the economy remaining strong, we need not rush to adjust our policy stance," Powell said on Wednesday (1/29/2025) US time or Thursday (1/30/2025) early morning.
As reported by Bloomberg, strong economic growth coupled with a solid labor market allows the Fed to wait for further evidence of declining inflation before adjusting interest rates again. It also gives them time to evaluate how President Donald Trump's policies on immigration, tariffs, and taxes could affect the US economy.
UTAH HOUSE COMMITTEE APPROVES BILL FOR CRYPTO INVESTMENTS
The Utah House Economic Development Committee introduced a bill that would allow the state to allocate a portion of public funds for cryptocurrency investments. The bill, known as HB 230, or the Blockchain and Digital Innovation Amendments, passed by a vote of 8-1 on January 28. Introduced by Utah Rep. Jordan Teuscher on Jan. 21, the proposed legislation would allow the state treasurer to invest up to 5% of certain public funds in “qualified digital assets.” These assets include assets with a market capitalization of more than $500 billion and certain approved stablecoins.
The Cardano blockchain has reached a major milestone as it transitions to fully decentralized governance with the activation of the Plomin hard fork, The Block reported on Wednesday.
The Cardano Foundation announced the successful implementation of the hard fork, giving ADA holders substantial voting power over various aspects of the blockchain’s future, including parameter changes, treasury withdrawals, and hard forks.
The approval for the Plomin hard fork came last Friday after meeting three critical thresholds during the network’s interim governance phase. The criteria included upgrading at least 85% of stake pools to a version of Cardano nodes that is compatible with the new protocol rules, a majority vote from more than 51% of stake pool operators (SPOs) in favor of the upgrade, and confirmation by more than 67% of the Interim Constitution Committee (ICC) that the hard fork is in accordance with the blockchain’s constitution.
The Cardano Foundation had previously confirmed on Thursday that it had voted in favor of the Plomin Hard Fork governance action, deeming it constitutional. The hard fork enabled seven governance actions outlined in Cardano Improvement Proposal CIP-1694, which included treasury withdrawals, a new constitution proposal, and a vote of no confidence, among others.
Plomin’s hard fork also introduced a rule that only accounts delegated to a decentralized representative (DRep) can withdraw staking rewards, further strengthening the decentralized governance structure. With today’s governance action, which was originally submitted on-chain on December 20, Cardano’s treasury will now be under the control of ADA holders.
At the time of reporting, Cardano’s ADA token was trading around $ 0.91, having fallen more than 5% in the past 24 hours, according to data from The Block Price Page.
this is the reason why Stop Loss is important How would it be if I didn't put SL, well you know I would be liquidated Give your opinion on the importance of SL!! #reminder Nice try see u tomorrow
BTC/USDT Liquidity Heatmap: Selling Pressure Increases on Binance!
The Bitcoin (BTC/USDT) market has shown interesting dynamics in the last 5 minutes, according to the Binance liquidity heatmap. The data depicts the intensity of buy and sell orders at various price levels, with colors reflecting the thickness of the liquidity.
Key Facts: • Strongest Resistance Level: Heavy liquidity was seen around $102,783, indicating a large number of sell orders holding back the price increase. • Dominant Selling Pressure: After touching this level, the price experienced a significant decline to touch the $101,800 area. • Liquidity Support: Buy orders started to appear at lower levels around $101,500, but were not strong enough to hold back the bearish trend.
Movement Analysis: The candlestick chart overlaid with the heatmap shows the price attempting to break through resistance, but heavy selling pressure forced the price back down. Buy orders below the $102,000 level indicate potential support starting to form, but selling pressure is still dominating.
What Does It Mean for Traders? • Scalpers and Day Traders can take advantage of this volatility by keeping an eye on strong resistance and support areas. • Swing Traders are advised to wait for confirmation of a breakout or breakdown before taking a position.
Conclusion: With this level of liquidity, the BTC/USDT market is in a consolidation phase with potential for major moves ahead. Stay tuned to the liquidity data to anticipate where it’s headed next.
Keep an eye on Binance’s heatmap for optimal trading opportunities!