The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group, which operates the largest financial derivatives exchanges worldwide, recently announced that XRP (XRP) futures contracts will go live on May 19.

According to the April 24 announcement, investors have the option of choosing between micro-sized contracts, featuring 2,500 XRP, or standard contract sizes of 50,000 XRP. All XRP futures contracts will be cash-settled.

In January 2025, the CME Group signaled an impending launch of XRP futures before quietly pulling the related page from its website.

CME’s announcement is the latest in a growing wave of crypto-focused financial products entering the market or awaiting regulatory approval in the US, a sign that cryptocurrencies have reached a new level of institutional acceptance.

The XRP ticker symbol displayed on the CME Group website. Source: CME Group

Related: CME Group taps Google Cloud for pilot asset tokenization program

Financial institutions push for altcoin financial products

On March 17, Solana (SOL) futures debuted on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The SOL contracts featured a standard contract size of 500 SOL and the more accessible micro contracts for 25 SOL.

In April 2025, asset manager Canary Capital submitted an application to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a staked Tron (TRX) exchange-traded fund (ETF).

The asset manager’s proposed ETF will hold spot TRX but will stake a portion of the token to accrue yield, which, at the time of this writing, is 4.5% for TRX.

On April 22, Crypto.com and the Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), a media conglomerate partially owned by the US President, signed a deal to launch an ETF tracking US crypto projects.

The ETF will launch under the Truth.Fi banner, which is US President Trump’s decentralized finance project, and is expected to start trading later in 2025.

List of pending ETF applications. Source: Eric Balchunas

There are now more than 70 crypto ETF applications waiting to be reviewed by the SEC, according to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.

“Everything from XRP, Litecoin, and Solana to Penguins, Doge, 2x Melania, and everything in between. Gonna be a wild year,” Balchunas wrote in an April 21 X post.

Magazine: Ethereum maxis should become ‘assholes’ to win TradFi tokenization race

Key takeaways:

Bearish Bitcoin traders were caught off guard by BTC’s rally above $90,000.

Spot volumes are driving the Bitcoin price rally.

Derivatives positions with a bearish bias remain at risk of liquidation.

Bitcoin (BTC) held above the $93,000 mark on April 24, suggesting a potential conclusion to the 52-day bear market that bottomed at $74,400. Although Bitcoin is beginning to show signs of decoupling from the stock market, professional traders have not altered their strategies, as indicated by BTC futures and margin market data.

BTC top traders’ long-to-short ratio. Source: CoinGlass

A higher long-to-short ratio reflects a preference for long (buy) positions, while a lower ratio indicates a tilt toward short (sell) contracts. Currently, the top traders’ long-to-short ratio on Binance stands at 1.5x, a notable decrease from the 2x level observed ten days earlier. At OKX, the ratio peaked near 1.1x on April 17 but has since lost momentum and now sits at 0.9x.

Bitcoin shines as dollar weakens and S&P 500 targets are slashed

Bitcoin’s 10% rally between April 20 and April 24 coincided with a more conciliatory stance from US President Donald Trump regarding import tariffs and his criticism of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who has faced scrutiny for maintaining high interest rates. On April 24, Trump stated he had “no intention” of firing Powell, marking a notable shift from his previous rhetoric.

Amid economic uncertainty, Deutsche Bank strategists have reduced their year-end S&P 500 target by 12% to 6,150. Meanwhile, the US dollar has weakened against other major currencies, pushing the DXY index below 99 for the first time in three years. Despite a modest 6% gain over the past 30 days, Bitcoin’s performance has secured it a place among the world’s top eight tradable assets, with a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion.

The sharp move above $90,000 caught Bitcoin bears off guard, resulting in over $390 million in leveraged short (sell) futures liquidations between April 21 and April 22. More significantly, aggregate open interest in BTC futures remains just 5% below its all-time high, indicating that bearish traders have not fully exited their positions.

BTC futures liquidation heatmap, USD. Source: CoinGlass

If Bitcoin’s price maintains its upward momentum and breaks above $95,000, an additional $700 million in short (sell) futures positions could be liquidated, according to CoinGlass data. This potential short squeeze may prove especially challenging for bears, given the robust inflows into spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which totaled over $2.2 billion between April 21 and April 23.

A newly announced joint venture involving SoftBank, Cantor Fitzgerald, and Tether aims to accumulate Bitcoin through convertible bonds and equity financing, which could further strengthen the bullish case. Named “Twenty One Capital,” the Bitcoin treasury company is led by Strike founder Jack Mallers and plans to launch with 42,000 BTC.

Related: Sovereign wealth funds piling into BTC as retail exits — Coinbase exec

The muted response from top traders in BTC margin and futures markets suggests that the recent buying pressure has originated mainly from spot markets, which is generally considered a positive indicator for a sustainable bull run.

The longer Bitcoin consolidates above $90,000, the greater the pressure on bears to cover their shorts, as this level reinforces the narrative that Bitcoin is decoupling from the stock market. This could provide the confidence needed to challenge the $100,000 psychological threshold.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Key points:

Bitcoin is setting up a showdown with leveraged shorts immediately above its yearly open price.

That key level near $93,500 is the main target for traders hoping that BTC/USD will cement its latest breakout.

The next support retest could involve $87,000, analysis suggests.

Bitcoin (BTC) consolidated below a key resistance target on April 24 as a BTC price forecast brought sub-$90,000 levels into play.

BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Analyst: BTC price correction “fairly normal”

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD retesting $92,000 as support overnight.

The pair broadly maintained six-week highs while global markets remained at a loss over the trajectory of the ongoing US trade war.

“The market is now up over +1% on the day on no news at all,” trading resource The Kobeissi Letter summarized alongside a chart of the S&P 500 in part of its latest analysis on X.

“As we have seen multiple times this year, it almost feels like someone is front-running something right now. We expect to see some sort of bullish announcement soon.”S&P 500 4-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Bitcoin continued to brush off news events, leaving volatility to equities, while gold attempted to stabilize after slipping from record highs earlier in the week.

“Fairly normal to have a slight correction here on Bitcoin as it’s just had a massive breakout,” crypto trader, analyst and entrepreneur Michaël van de Poppe told X followers on the day.

“Buyers likely going to step in and then we’ll be continuing our path towards a new ATH.”BTC/USDT 12-hour chart with RSI data. Source: Michaël van de Poppe/X

Others increasingly entertained the idea of a deeper correction following brisk gains for BTC/USD, potentially taking the market back below the $90,000 mark.

“A dip to 88k would be lovely,” popular trader Inmortal argued. 

A dip to 88k would be lovely.

If the market gives it, I will probably play one of these two setups, or both.$BTC pic.twitter.com/ysqiheds7X

— Inmortal (@inmortalcrypto) April 24, 2025

Trader and analyst Rekt Capital had a similar conception of the potential support retest move.

BTC price action, he observed, was closely copying behavior from the middle of its previous bull market in 2021.

“Part of Bitcoin continuing to repeat mid-2021 price tendencies relative to the Bull Market EMAs would be a dip into the $87000 (green EMA) level for a post-breakout retest, if at all needed,” he commented on a weekly chart showing two exponential moving averages (EMAs).

“Depends on how BTC Weekly Closes relative to $93500.”BTC/USD 1-week chart. Source: Rekt Capital/X

Bitcoin bulls seek leveraged shorts wipeout

The main target for bulls thus remained the yearly open level just above $93,000, one which remained intact as resistance at the time of writing.

Related: Bitcoin exchange outflows mimic 2023 as whales buy retail ‘panic’

This coincided with a block of potential liquidation levels on exchange order books, providing fertile conditions for a “short squeeze” should price attack them.

$BTC Liquidation heatmap shows that liquidity of leveraged positions is building up on both sides.
Leveraged longs mainly around $91,400.
Leveraged shorts around $93,500-$94,500. pic.twitter.com/d2jCyO2FdC

— chad. (@chad_ventures) April 24, 2025

The latest data from monitoring resource CoinGlass showed the largest concentration of liquidation leverage centered around $93,600.

Earlier, Cointelegraph reported on a large trading entity dubbed “Spoofy the Whale” removing a wall of asks at $90,000.

BTC liquidation leverage data. Source: CoinGlass

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.