Bitcoin’s continues to lag behind gold, its usual point of comparison, as its dollar price shows no clear trend, oscillating between $86,000 and $90,000. Since midnight UTC, it’s up by 1.2% against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the bitcoin-to-gold price ratio has decreased to 20.18, the lowest figure recorded since January 1, 2024, according to TradingView data. This persistent drop indicates that investors still prefer the precious metal as a safe haven amidst concerns about fiscal strategies in developed nations and discussions regarding potential Federal Reserve interest-rate deductions.
This ratio may rebound later on Thursday if U.S. inflation figures come in lower than anticipated, which could heighten expectations for rate cuts and encourage more risk-taking in financial markets.
Derivatives Positioning
- The downward trajectory of BTC’s 30-day implied volatility, as indicated by Volmex’s BVIV index, has leveled off around 50%. However, there are currently no indications of an impending increase in volatility, suggesting that traders are not anticipating a spike anytime soon.
- The MOVE index, which measures U.S. Treasury note volatility, has fallen to 62.73, marking a low not seen since October. Typically, a decrease in Treasury market volatility is favorable for risk assets.
- Among major cryptocurrencies, SOL, TRX, and DOGE have all witnessed an uptick in open interest (OI) within the futures market.
- Negative funding rates for BNB, XRP, SOL, TRX, and DOGE have emerged. The combination of rising OI alongside negative rates for DOGE and TRX indicates a build-up of short positions.
- On Deribit, risk reversals continue to indicate a preference for BTC and ETH puts, reflecting ongoing concerns about downside risks.
- Block flow analysis highlights call calendar spreads and strangles in BTC, as well as put spreads and strangles in ETH.
Token Talk
- Yearn Finance, a prominent yield aggregator in DeFi, faced another security breach this week, with attackers siphoning roughly $300,000 from an outdated smart contract.
- The vulnerability was identified in a contract linked to iEarn, an earlier version of the protocol that dates back nearly six years. Security firm PeckShield reported the exploit, revealing that the culprits converted the stolen assets into 103 ETH, valued at about $290,000.
- Yearn quickly released a statement clarifying that the attack did not affect current vaults or contracts, emphasizing, “The issue is confined to iEarn and does not impact current Yearn contracts or vaults,” as noted by the team on X.
- This marks the second exploit Yearn has experienced in just one month; earlier in December, attackers absconded with $9 million from a different vulnerability.
- The value of Yearn’s YFI token slid almost 6% following the incident and is underperforming the broader market. Additionally, total value locked in the yield aggregator has fallen by over $50 million to $560 million since the last exploit, data indicates.
