JPMORGAN EYEING BITCOIN’S CONTANGO, RELEASES BULLISH REPORT
DYLAN LECLAIR, 10 April 2021
In a report titled “Why Is The Bitcoin Futures Curve So Steep?” JPMorgan Chase analysts examined the growing futures and derivatives market surrounding bitcoin, provided insights as to why the contango is so steep and explored what the future holds for the monetary asset as it becomes increasingly financialized.
Here are some of the highlights from the report.
“As has often been the case in the past, the growth and gradual maturation of cryptocurrency markets has naturally generated interest in derivatives and other sources of leverage. Though futures trade against a range of pairs, Bitcoin unsurprisingly dominates this nascent marketplace. Similarly to the spot market, these products trade within a highly fragmented ecosystem, with nearly 30 active venues. The vast majority is traded offshore as well, with less than 15% of the total open interest listed on major, regulated domestic venues like the CME (Exhibit 1). Normalized depth in futures has also kept pace with the deepening of the cash market, suggesting it too is benefiting from institutional inflows and improved liquidity provision in spot (Exhibit 2).”
