Many market participants expected that the introduction of Bitcoin futures trading would trigger a sharp correction, as it would be finally possible to take short positions. In fact, the opposite happened, the price soared more than 20% and returned above the $17,000 threshold. Over the last 24 hours, the price has been moving sideways between $16,200 and $17,500.

When we look at the numbers, the market’s interest for Bitcoin futures seems to be quite limited. The trading activity was quite limited at market opening on Monday. During the first hours, the average hourly volume was around 300 Bitcoin but it quickly declined as the future’s price exploded, climbing as high as $18,850. After that, trading activity declined continuously with around 50 contracts traded hourly.

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The figures suggest that investors are not keen to go short Bitcoin, which suggests that further gains are expected. Bitcoin is currently going through a period of accumulation at around $16,000-$17,000. Regarding the price outlook, we remain bullish Bitcoin and expect that the price will pick-up soon as money continue to flow into crypto-assets. It is reasonable to target the $20,000 level by year-end.