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FxWirePro: Tempting bitcoin wolves but shrinking volatilities ahead of XBT futures expiry season

This Wednesday the latest round of CBOE XBT futures ends. The nature of futures contracts means they need to be settled on a set, predefined date, based on a contract. 

Please take a glance at the underlying price of Bitcoin (BTCUSD at Gemini) closed the week at $3,650 levels (up about +6.9%). 

Technically, the test of strong support at $3,324.63 levels, which propped-up the price up above 7 & 21-DMAs and a tweezer bottom. For today, one can easily observe that the current trend has been drifting in extremely sideways ahead of XBT expiries. 

Bullish engulfing occurrence at $3,622.59 levels has taken off rallies above DMAs with bullish DMA and MACD crossovers after the test of this strong support, while both technical indicators are in line with the upswings, which demonstrates a strong rejection by the bulls after the bulls found support late on Friday.

Fundamentally, Bitcoin wolves have been hovering on the news that the bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) has been a striking prospect for cryptocurrency space. Despite the fact that Winklevoss ETF being rejected, on the flip side, Hester Peirce, the US SEC commissioner, has made announcements that at some point in 2019 we will see the Bitcoin ETF get approved alongside the regulation of crypto-friendly token-sales.

For now, CBOE XBT futures ends on 13th for February series, all CBOE contracts will have to be traded, or settled, before this date. There is generally a fall in the trading volume of futures around expiration dates, that coincides with a rise in volatility and potential short/long squeezing.

Please also be informed that XBT futures are cash-settled contracts based on the Gemini's auction price for bitcoin, denominated in U.S. dollars. Courtesy: TradingView.com & BNC

Currency Strength Index: FxWirePro's hourly BTC spot index is inching towards -47 levels (which is bearish), USD at 5 (absolutely neutral), while articulating (at 13:50 GMT).

For more details on the index, please refer below weblink: http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex

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