The February contract crossed above the psychological hurdle and printed a high of $10,030 at 11:40 UTC, a level last seen on Oct. 26.
Bitcoin futures listed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange rose to multi-month highs, breaking above $10,000 early Friday.
The breakout into five figures, however, was short-lived as prices quickly pared gains to trade below $10,000. At press time, the futures are trading near $9,850.
The February contract has failed twice in the past 24 hours to keep gains above the $10,000 mark. Prices briefly rose to a high of $10,010 during Thursday’s U.S. trading hours.
The uptick in futures is backed by a surge in open positions on major exchanges like the CME and Bakkt. Open interest, the number of open futures contracts on the CME, jumped to a five-month high of $249 million on Wednesday – up 34.5 percent from $185 million seen two weeks ago. Meanwhile, open positions on Bakkt, rose to a record high of $13 million on Wednesday, surpassing the previous record high of $12 million reached on Feb. 3, according to data analytics firm Skew.
While the futures market tested the water above $10,000, the spot price fell short by $128. The cryptocurrency’s global average price, as calculated by CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index, hit a high of $9,872 and was last seen at $9,740.
Bitcoin rallied by 30 percent in January to register its biggest monthly gain since May 201, making it the best January performance in seven years.
Currently, the top cryptocurrency is reporting a 36 percent gain on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, other major cryptocurrencies like ether, litecoin and EOS are up 70 to 75 percent, according to data source CoinMarketCap.
Bitcoin News Summary – February 10, 2020
Bitcoin reached a new milestone with the confirmation of its 500 millionth transaction. It took Bitcoin 8 years to reach the 250 million transaction milestone in late 2017 and a little over 2 years for it to double since then. We could see a billion completed transactions before the end of 2020.
Square, run by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey; Pantera Capital, and other companies with strong existing crypto exposure have invested a combined $14 million into Transparent Financial Systems. The Seattle-based startup is aimed at creating a crypto-based monetary settlement service, with early indications being that it will work alongside existing US Dollar-based networks.
Crypto derivatives exchange FTX announced a new instrument called TRUMP-2020 which will allow traders to bet on whether President Trump will be reelected. The contract expires in November when the election is held. Its price will be $0 if Trump loses and $1 if he wins. It’s currently priced around 62 cents, suggesting the market gives him a 62% chance of success.
The TOKEN2049 crypto conference, scheduled to be held in Hong Kong in mid-March, has been postponed until October of this year due to concerns over the Coronavirus. Binance has also postponed its scheduled conference in Vietnam for the same reason.
Switzerland’s financial overseer passed a new anti-money laundering law which requires exchanges to ID clients trading crypto above 1,000 Swiss Francs. It’s clear that governments are seeking more complete information on those transferring significant value using cryptocurrencies.
Before we conclude, this week’s “Bitcoin quick question” is is Bitcoin legal?
The legal status of bitcoin varies substantially from country to country. Whereas the majority of countries do not make the usage of bitcoin itself illegal, its status as money varies.
For example, some states have explicitly allowed its use and trade, while others have banned or restricted it. Likewise, various government agencies, departments, and courts have classified bitcoin differently.
Only a handful of countries have placed an active ban on Bitcoin completely. The majority of developed countries have established clear rules about taxation and regulation regarding Bitcoin.
To learn more about Bitcoin’s legal status around the world take a look at the link in the description.
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