Key Takeaways
Looking back
Crypto continued to grind lower last week, BTC reaching a zenith around $25,880 Friday in NY, but recovered to spend the weekend around $1,000 higher, and then notched up a rally to $27,600 in Asia on Monday morning in what can only be described as very thin trading. During the rally, vols moved significantly higher as buyers re-loaded with call side gamma, taking more than 2000 lots of 18 & 19 May $28k calls out of the market. There has been no follow through though; BTC currently hovering around $27k. ETH has again been a follower. The standout mid-cap performer of the week was LTC, rallying from $77 to a high around $89, reportedly on the back of the recent introduction of the Litecoin Ordinals Protocol, which allows anyone to mint NTFs on top of the base Litecoin blockchain.
Flows over the past week were better sellers of both BTC (51.6%) and ETH (53.3%); strong buying in DOGE (68.1%), SOL (55.1%), ADA (59.1%) and MATIC (56.3%); strong selling in AVAX (56.3%). APAC clients were strong buyers (63.4%); and by category, exchanges and retail brokers were better buyers.
Futures basis remains weak on crypto native exchanges: June BTC basis on Binance remains just above 3%, and on Deribit around 0.25-0.75%. Only on CME have we seen any pick up, with May BTC basis up 3% on the week to around 5%, indicating that perhaps regulated players are accumulating long positions.
Option vols continued to trade with a weak tone until Monday when front end call buyers came in strongly to underpin the curve, buying at least 2000 lots of 19 May $28k calls, and carving out a low point for vols in general, basis June BTC atm vol around 46%, before rallying back to the high 40s. We saw a large clip of ETH call-side vega sold into the market yesterday, meaning ETH vols may continue to struggle to hold a premium to BTC. Last but not least, we note a recent trend for buying of very low delta long dated wings such as Dec $10k puts in BTC. Money managers do not buy these sorts of things with the intention to make money from them. Rather, they are like fire insurance: essentially an exercise in tail risk mitigation, as time moves inexorably towards the US debt ceiling, expected currently on 1 June.
Looking ahead
Data out this week is thin, the highlight being US retail sales today. Also watched will be Japan industrial production, as US investors have recently been making noise about Japanese stocks being undervalued. That apart, there are a raft of central banker speeches throughout the week, culminating with Fed chair Powell on Friday. Whatever data comes out, however, the market is going to focus more and more on risks associated with the US debt ceiling, and that may just keep a little downward pressure on asset prices in the short term.
Buy/Sell Ratio by Category
Buy/Sell Ratio by Region
All data sourced from our real time systems supporting global 24/7 crypto liquidity provision
More than just a liquidity provider, B2C2 is a digital asset pioneer building the ecosystem of the future.
The firm has unlocked institutional access to crypto by providing reliable liquidity across market conditions. B2C2’s success is built on crypto native technology and continuous product innovation, making it the partner of choice for diverse institutions globally.
Founded in 2015 and majority owned by Japanese financial group, SBI, B2C2 Ltd is headquartered in the UK, with offices in the US and Japan.
B2C2 Ltd is registered in England and Wales under company number 07995888 with its registered office at 86-90 Paul Street, London, EC2A 4NE. B2C2 Ltd is the parent company of the B2C2 group of companies. Products may be provided by different members of the B2C2 group of companies, depending on the jurisdiction of the client and the regulatory status of the product and/or B2C2 group member. B2C2 is a registered trademark.
Sign up to our news alerts to receive our regular newsletter and institutional insights into the crypto market direct to your inbox.
B2C2 does not transact with or provide any service to any retail investor or consumer. By subscribing to our content, you represent that you are not a retail investor or consumer. Please refer to our disclaimer for further information
