First Mover Americas: BTC Starts June Trading Flat, Alts Decline

The latest moves in crypto markets in context for June 1, 2022.

AccessTimeIconJun 1, 2022 at 1:23 p.m. UTC
Updated May 11, 2023 at 6:57 p.m. UTC
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Good morning, and welcome to First Mover. I’m Lyllah Ledesma, here to take you through the latest in crypto markets, news and insights.

  • Price point: Bitcoin trades flat and altcoins underperform.
  • Market Moves: BTC futures now account for 63% of the open interest in the crypto futures market.

Price Point

Bitcoin (BTC) opened its first day of trading in June at around $31,800. The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is trading relatively flat and hasn't seen much price movement overnight.

Bitcoin has fallen 15% from this time a year ago, when it was trading at around $37,000.

June 1, 2021 BTC traded at a low of $35,699. (Trading View)
June 1, 2021 BTC traded at a low of $35,699. (Trading View)

Ether is trading at $1,900 at the time of writing and is down 26% from this time a year ago.

According to Charles Storry, head of growth at Phuture, a crypto index platform, the sell-off is just beginning.

“We are entering a 12-18 month bear market. I am bullish long term as this is short term fear and panic selling,” Storry said.

Altcoins saw weakness over the last 24 hours after some of the coins rallied on Tuesday. Cardano (ADA) has dropped 7%, Avalanche (AVAX) fell 5.7%, and Solana’s SOL declined 5%.

Tron’s TRX was the only gainer, climbing by 10% over the last 24 hours.

Optimism (OP), the token that powers the layer 2 Ethereum scaling tool Optimism, has dropped 65% from its listing price after its much anticipated airdrop.

Market Moves

Bitcoin Dominance in Derivatives

Open interest in bitcoin futures and perpetuals now account for 63% of the open interest in the crypto futures market. In early April, open interest was around 50%, according to data from Arcane Research. This has come as the global interest in the crypto market has seen a sharp decline.

BTC futures accounting for 63% of the crypto market are at their highest level since October 2021.

Bitcoin’s dominance in the derivatives market mirrors the cryptocurrency’s dominance in the wider market, which trended higher in May.

Open interest in crypto futures vs bitcoin open interest dominance (Arcane Research)
Open interest in crypto futures vs bitcoin open interest dominance (Arcane Research)

Joshua Lim, head of derivatives at Genesis Global Trading, said that this data suggests the speculative interest in altcoins is diminishing.

“Alts have had a rough run and a lot of liquidations and de-risking has taken speculators out of the market,” Lim said.

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Today’s newsletter was edited by Lyllah Ledesma and produced by Parikshit Mishra and Stephen Alpher.

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CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.

Lyllah Ledesma

Lyllah Ledesma is a CoinDesk Markets reporter currently based in Europe. She holds bitcoin, ether and small amounts of other crypto assets.

Shaurya Malwa

Shaurya is the Deputy Managing Editor for the Data & Tokens team, focusing on decentralized finance, markets, on-chain data, and governance across all major and minor blockchains.

Parikshit Mishra

Parikshit Mishra is CoinDesk's Deputy Managing Editor responsible for breaking news coverage. He does not have any crypto holdings.


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