{"id":216,"date":"2021-12-09T23:02:51","date_gmt":"2021-12-09T23:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/?p=216"},"modified":"2021-12-09T23:13:15","modified_gmt":"2021-12-09T23:13:15","slug":"data-shows-pro-traders-are-currently-more-bullish-on-ethereum-than-bitcoin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/?p=216","title":{"rendered":"Data shows pro traders are currently more bullish on Ethereum than Bitcoin"},"content":{"rendered":"<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\namzn_assoc_placement = \"adunit0\";\r\namzn_assoc_tracking_id = \"totafreearti-20\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_mode = \"search\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_type = \"smart\";\r\namzn_assoc_marketplace = \"amazon\";\r\namzn_assoc_region = \"US\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = \"crypto\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_category = \"All\";\r\namzn_assoc_search_bar = \"false\";\r\namzn_assoc_title = \"\";\r\namzn_assoc_rows =\"1\";\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"\/\/z-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/onejs?MarketPlace=US\"><\/script>\n<p>Most traders have noticed that Ether (ETH) price has seriously outperformed Bitcoin (BTC) for months now and the ETH\/BTC ratio has rallied more than 230% in 2021 and recently hit a new high at 0.089 BTC on Dec. 9.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>ETH\/BTC pair at Coinbase. Source: TradingView<\/em><\/p>\n<p>To put things in perspective, Ether&#8217;s $490 billion market capitalization currently represents 54% of Bitcoin&#8217;s $903 billion. This ratio finished 2020 at a mere 15%, so it is safe to conclude that some &#8216;flippening&#8217; has occurred. It might still be far from what Ethereum-maximalists imagined, but it is still quite a respectable run.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of analyzing the rationale for the move or, even worse, predicting the outcome based on some loose expectations, analysts should explore the market structure of each coin individually.<\/p>\n<p>For example, is the futures&#8217; market premium facing a similar trend on both coins and how does the pro traders&#8217; long-to-short ratio compare? These are the most relevant metrics to determine whether a movement has the strength to continue.<\/p>\n<h2>The futures premium favors Ether<\/h2>\n<p>Quarterly futures are the whales and arbitrage desks&#8217; preferred instruments but because of their settlement date and the price difference from spot markets, they might seem complicated for retail traders. However, these quarterly contracts&#8217; most notable advantage is the lack of a fluctuating funding rate.<\/p>\n<p>These fixed-month instruments usually trade slightly above spot market prices, indicating that sellers are requesting more money to withhold settlement longer. Consequently, futures should trade at a 5% to 15% annualized premium in healthy markets. This situation is known as &#8220;contango&#8221; and is not exclusive to crypto markets.<\/p>\n<p>Bitcoin and Ether futures basis. Source: Laevitas.ch<\/p>\n<p>After comparing both charts, we can see that Bitcoin futures trade at an average 2.6% annualized premium for March 2022 and 4.4% for June 2022. This compares to Ether&#8217;s 2.9% and 5%, respectively. As a result, it becomes clear that whales and arbitrage desks are demanding a larger premium on Ether and this is a bullish indicator.<\/p>\n<h2>Bitcoin&#8217;s long-to-short ratio declined<\/h2>\n<p>To effectively measure how professional traders are positioned, investors should monitor the top traders&#8217; long-to-short ratio at leading crypto exchanges. This metric provides a broader view of traders&#8217; effective net position by gathering data from multiple markets.<\/p>\n<p>It is worth noting that exchanges gather data on top traders differently because there are multiple ways to measure clients&#8217; net exposure. Therefore, any comparison between different providers should be made on percentage changes instead of absolute numbers.<\/p>\n<p><em>Bitcoin top traders long-to-short ratio. Source: Coinglass<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The long-to-short ratio for top Bitcoin traders currently stands at a 1.21 ratio average, down from the 1.39 on Dec. 5. Compared to the 1.59 figure from two weeks ago, this signals that buyers (longs) reduced their exposure by 24%. Once again, the absolute number has less importance than the overall change in the time frame.<\/p>\n<p><em>Ether top traders long-to-short ratio. Source: Coinglass<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Ether whales and arbitrage desks showed a positive sentiment change from Dec. 5 after the long-to-short moved to 1.16 from 1.0. When comparing the average data from Nov. 25, top Ether traders&#8217; long-to-short have been cut by 20% from 1.43.<\/p>\n<h2>Data shows Ether traders are more confident than Bitcoin traders<\/h2>\n<p>Current derivatives data favors Ether because the asset currently shows a higher futures basis rate. Furthermore, the improvement on the top traders&#8217; long-to-short since Oct. 5 signals confidence at a delicate period when ETH price is down 16% from its $4,870 all-time high.<\/p>\n<p>Bitcoin investors may be lacking confidence as its price stands 31% below the $69,000 all-time high on Nov. 10. There&#8217;s no way to know whether this is a cause or consequence. Still, judging by the futures premium and long-to-short data Ether seems to have enough momentum to keep outperforming.<\/p>\n<p><em>The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the <\/em><em>author<\/em><em> and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.<\/em><\/p>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\namzn_assoc_placement = \"adunit0\";\r\namzn_assoc_tracking_id = \"totafreearti-20\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_mode = \"search\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_type = \"smart\";\r\namzn_assoc_marketplace = \"amazon\";\r\namzn_assoc_region = \"US\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = \"bitcoin\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_category = \"All\";\r\namzn_assoc_search_bar = \"false\";\r\namzn_assoc_title = \"\";\r\namzn_assoc_rows =\"1\";\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"\/\/z-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/onejs?MarketPlace=US\"><\/script>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/data-shows-pro-traders-are-currently-more-bullish-on-ethereum-than-bitcoin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most traders have noticed that Ether (ETH) price has seriously outperformed Bitcoin (BTC) for months now and the ETH\/BTC ratio has rallied more than 230% in 2021 and recently hit a new high at 0.089 BTC on Dec. 9.&nbsp; ETH\/BTC pair at Coinbase. Source: TradingView To put things in perspective, Ether&#8217;s $490 billion market capitalization [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bitcoin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=216"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":219,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216\/revisions\/219"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}