Latest news with #AlexiaTheodorou
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Ether, Dogecoin Surge, Outpaces Bitcoin as DeFi Comments Spurs Bullish Mood
Bitcoin BTC stayed steady above $109,500 in Asian morning hours Wednesday, a rebound that started after last week's profit-taking. However, all eyes are on ether ETH with traders commenting on upside volatility in the weeks to come and reporting record volumes for certain ETH-based products on some exchanges. ETH zoomed 5% in the past 24 hours, leading gains among majors. 'Investors are finally recognizing the compelling investment opportunity that Ethereum presents. It's still trading well below its all-time highs, while bitcoin is already near its ATH levels,' said Jeff Mei, COO at BTSE, in a message to CoinDesk. He pointed to Ethereum's growing role in tokenizing real-world assets like stocks, money-market funds, and U.S. Treasuries, adding that it was 'very likely that Ethereum will reach and/or surpass its all-time high price by the end of the year.' Ether ETFs have attracted more than $800 million in the past two weeks alone, outpacing bitcoin's sub-$400 million, according to SoSoValue data. That's helped the spread between ether's implied volatility and bitcoin's reach its highest level since late 2022 — a sign traders expect bigger price swings ahead. Open interest in ether perpetuals on Kraken hit an all-time high of 30,000 ETH this week, said Alexia Theodorou, Head of Derivatives at Kraken, in an email to CoinDesk. 'This signals a notable uptick in speculative activity around the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap,' she noted. However, she cautioned that the market 'has yet to form a clear directional consensus,' with the long/short ratio still well below January levels. Elsewhere in the market, Solana SOL and Cardano ADA posted gains of 4.7% and 3.3%, respectively, adding to the risk-on tone, while XRP XRP rose 2% to $2.30. Ethereum beta bet dogecoin DOGE climbed 3.7% to reverse all of last week's losses. Traders are closely watching upcoming U.S. CPI data on Wednesday, which could sway Federal Reserve rate expectations and shape risk sentiment ahead of next week's meeting.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Crypto Exchange Kraken Launches FX Perpetual Futures, Offers 24/7 Trading in Forex Majors
Crypto exchange Kraken has launched FX perpetual futures, expanding into traditional markets with round-the-clock trading for major forex pairs, the company said in a blog post Friday. The first contracts, EUR/USD and GBP/USD, are now live on Kraken Pro, with more to follow. Unlike standard forex products, FX perps have no expiry and operate 24/7, mirroring crypto futures. With FX perps, Kraken is doubling down on serving institutional and professional traders looking for deeper exposure to fiat markets through a crypto-native platform, the company said. Crypto and traditional financial markets are increasingly converging. Kraken recently launched commission-free trading for U.S.-listed stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), opening access to traditional financial markets from within the same platform it uses for cryptocurrencies and positioning itself to compete more directly with trading platforms like Robinhood (HOOD). "Investors increasingly expect a unified trading experience that spans crypto, FX, and equities. With our recent U.S. equities launch and the addition of FX perpetuals, Kraken is delivering a comprehensive platform designed for today's multi-asset trader," said Alexia Theodorou, head of derivatives at Kraken, in emailed comments. Kraken clients traded $5.4B in FX spot volume year-to-date, with $3.5B of it in EUR/USD and GBP/USD. The exchange is teaming up with Mastercard to let crypto holders in the U.K. and Europe spend their digital assets at more than 150 million merchants worldwide, Mastercard said earlier this month Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy.
