Markets Roundup: Spot BTC Markets Shrug CME Settlement, Pantera CEO on Cyclical Sentiment

In the cryptocurrency markets, the recent settlement of CME futures contracts appears to have exerted little impact on spot BTC prices, the CEO of Pantera Capital has shared his outlook on initial coin offerings, and October has proven to be the least volatile month of 2018, with only a single day producing a price swing greater than 5 percent as of this writing.

CME Futures Settlement Exerts Little Impact on Price

Many analysts are attributing the apparent lack of influence from the futures markets to the lack of trade volume. CME recorded an average of 5,000 contracts traded daily during the third quarter, which, despite comprising a 43% increase over the previous quarter’s 3,500, is dwarfed by the 18 million contracts traded across CME’s other products during the second quarter.

Dan Morehead: Bitcoin Is in “Buy One, Get Two Free Sale”

Speaking to CNBC Crypto Trader’s Ran Neu-Ner at the recent Crypto Invest Summit, Dan Morehead, chief executive officer of Pantera Capital, shared his opinion on the current cryptocurrency bear trend and the cyclical sentiment surrounding the crypto markets.

“Human nature is pro-cyclical,” he continued, “when the market is at highs in December, and the FOMO devil is whispering in your ear … it’s so easy to want to buy, and then now, when it’s down, you don’t want to tell your spouse you want to buy something that’s down 70% because that seems crazy – but that is actually the time to buy.”

On Pantera’s position with regards to investing in initial coin offerings (ICOs), Morehead stated: “ICOs have been around since Mastercoin in 2013, and Ethereum in 2014 … they’ve been around for a long time, and our fund has been buying one or two a month for a long time … In May of last year, it exploded [and] we were getting 50 … inbound token projects … a week,” adding that “now, it has essentially gone back to normal, there [are] one or two really interesting projects a month.”

October Poised to Post Weakest Daily BTC Volatility of 2018

As of this writing, October has comprised the weakest month of volatility for 2018, with only a single day posting a price swing exceeding 5 percent.

So far, October appears to have beaten out May, June, August, and September – all of which saw just three days of price action greater than 5 percent. The average number of days in a month to experience BTC price volatility of more than 5 percent for 2018 is 4.7 as of this writing.