By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – Bitcoin has soared in recent weeks ahead of the launch of a futures-based exchange traded fund, but the bitcoin bulls see plenty of gains still up for grabs as bets on $100,000 by year-end heat up.
BTC/USD rose 1.3% to $61,327, and had hit an intraday high of $62,623 just shy of its record high of $64,778.
The futures-based exchange-traded fund from ProShares will begin trading Tuesday on the NYSE under the ticker "BITO."
A public listed ETF is expected to put BTC on the radar of investors, who are keen on the popular cryptocurrency, but prefer exposure in a more accessible way.
The potential widening of the crypto investor base, hasn't gone unnoticed among bitcoin bulls.
Current trading action in derivative markets suggests that traders believe the popular cryptocurrency will not only advance to eclipse its prior record high, but also top 100,000 by year-end.
The favored options contracts [on bitcoin] appear to be call options with strike prices above $100,000 … expiring at the end of the year," Glassnode said in its weekly on-chain report.
"The open interest in call options dwarfs that in put options, aligning with the overall bullish market sentiment."
Ahead of the launch of a BTC futures-based ETF, heated debate continues on whether a futures-based ETF is the most suitable investment vehicle to drive up crypto adoption.
Some argue as a bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund doesn’t directly own or hold bitcoin, but rather bitcoin futures, it won’t do a very good job of tracking the price of bitcoin, potentially leading to under performance.
Simeon Hyman, global investment strategies at ProShares, however, downplayed the risk.
"There's a lot of evidence from experts that the futures market if anything is a better place for price discovery," Hyman said Tuesday in an interview with CNBC. "The CME futures market, a regulated place, and actually trades more volume than the largest US crypto exchange."
For all the bullish speculation, however, there is one group of investors that need to hold onto their crypto to keep the bull run alive: the long-term holders.
These long-term holders, or LTH, are starting to show signs of itchy fingers to cash in profits. With about 98% of BTC still held at an unrealized profit, a meaningful jump in traders cashing in, or realizing, their profit could take the wind out of bitcoin's sails.
"Over the past week, we can see a slight softening of the LTH net position change metric. This suggests a degree of LTH spending is occurring as prices rally above $60,000," Glassnode noted in its report.
For the moment, however, there is enough demand to keep dip-buying healthy.
"Whilst we have now confirmed that profitable coins are on the move, these metrics indicate that current demand is sufficient to absorb any sell-side pressure applied," Glassnode added.