Bitcoin Gains Ahead of $6B Options Expiry After Market Finds $50K Floor – CoinDesk – CoinDesk

“Returns after prior bitcoin options expiration dates have tended to be positive,” David Grider, strategist at Fundstrat, told clients in an email. “The market is calm based on bitcoin VIX [a volatility index] falling, with room to fall further.”

BTC was changing hands at roughly $52,700 as of 12:03 UTC (8:04 a.m. ET), up 2.9% on the day.

On the fundamental side, uncertainty over vaccine rollouts across Europe, renewed lockdowns, and the underperformance of Asian equities casted a shadow over risk assets this month.

Elsewhere in the cryptocurrency universe, lending markets are heating up after BlockFi cut rates. “There is simply too much BTC supply in search of yield relative to institutional demand for that BTC,” wrote Matthew Ballensweig, head of lending at Genesis Trading, in a March 24 tweet. “There are limited ways to deploy BTC right now, and thus the glorified 4%-6% yields on BTC are contracting fast.”