Institutional investors are more interested in Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) futures than Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) ones, as per JPMorgan analysts.
What Happened: As per a note from the analysts, BTC futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange traded below the price of a spot BTC, reported Business Insider.
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“This is a setback for bitcoin and a reflection of weak demand by institutional investors that tend to use regulated CME futures contracts to gain exposure to bitcoin,” the New York-based bank said.
On the other hand, institutional investors have been gravitating towards ETH since August. Citing CME data, JP Morgan pointed out that the 21-day average ETH futures premium rose to 1% over actual ETH prices.
This as per the bank is an indicator of a “strong divergence in demand.”
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"This points to much healthier demand for ethereum vs. bitcoin by institutional investors," the JPMorgan analysts wrote, as per Business Insider.
Why It Matters: Both BTC and ETH have fared poorly over the week, with the apex cryptocurrency declining 7.13% and ETH plunging 13.04%, this is despite the rising interest of large investors in ETH futures.
See Also: Ethereum Has Already Surpassed Bitcoin Based On Dollar Holdings: Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky
Institutional investors have been moving towards Ethereum futures recently, with the coin’s “London” upgrade last month being a significant factor.
Post the upgrade ETH was expected to burn over $5 billion in one year, which has attracted bulls and institutions to the cryptocurrency.
Such momentum has also fuelled expectations for an eventual flippening when BTC is overtaken by ETH.
Price Action: At press time, BTC traded 0.93% higher at $44,533 and ETH traded 0.04% lower at $3,099.77 over 24 hours.
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