According to Decrypt, the US reported a 3.3% growth in its gross domestic product (GDP) during the fourth quarter, surpassing economists' estimates of 2% growth. The Bureau of Economic Analysis noted that growth had slowed down from the 4.9% rate in Q3 of last year. The growth in Q4 indicates that the economy is nearly keeping pace with the 3.4% rate of inflation seen in December. Strong consumer and government spending contributed to the growth in Q4.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading for $39,817, after reclaiming the $40,000 mark early yesterday morning. The cryptocurrency saw just shy of $30 billion worth of BTC trading volume yesterday, according to CoinGecko data. The positive US GDP report comes amid the possible expiration of billions worth of crypto futures, a type of derivative that investors use to predict future price movements of assets like commodities, currencies, or crypto assets. Derebit Chief Commercial Officer Luuk Strijers said in an email that around $3.7 billion in BTC options notional open interest is set to expire, with a max pain level at $41,000, and for ETH, about $2 billion in options notional open interest, with a max pain level of $2,300. However, he added that many traders don't intend to let their contracts expire just yet, as this period has seen the most activity in the January and February expiries, suggesting that many traders are rolling their positions forward.
