Bitcoin printed new lifetime highs near $50,000 this morning, having crowded out excess bullish leverage in the derivatives market with a swift price drop on Monday.
The top cryptocurrency by market value clocked a record high of $49,950.93 at around 08:00 UTC Tuesday and was last seen trading near $49,280, representing a 2.8% gain on the day, according to CoinDesk 20 data.
Prices had fallen Monday by $3,000 to below $45,926 during the early Asian trading hours, triggering nearly $392 million-worth of long liquidations in the derivative market.
While the dip was short-lived, a breakout above $50,000 has so far remained elusive. Bitcoin now needs the help of cash/spot buyers to rise above $50,000, according to Patrick Heusser, head of trading at the Swiss-based Crypto Finance AG.
“Everyone in derivatives have done their job, and they look exhausted,” Heusser told CoinDesk, adding that prices could consolidate between $44,000 and $50,000 if spot buyers continue to sit on the fence.
The cryptocurrency’s recent rally from $40,000 has been primarily driven by leverage on derivatives, and spot market volumes on institutional-focused exchanges such as Coinbase Pro have cooled, as discussed on Monday.
Notably, the Coinbase premium indicator, which measures the spread between Coinbase Pro’s BTC/USD pair and Binance’s BTC/USDT pair, continues to report negative values, as noted by Ki-Young Ju, CEO of the blockchain analytics firm CryptoQuant on Tuesday. The negative premium indicates weak institutional inflows.