After bouncing from the recent short-term low, Bitcoin (BTC) price posted a fifteen% gain over three days as it climbed from $32,400 to $37,200.

This was an impressive move given that BTC price had been trading in a sideways range for weeks and regardless of the reasons behind the surge, one would expect big traders and arbitrage desks to follow the trend.

Interestingly, this is not the instance as many of the meridian traders opened brusk positions every bit BTC commenced its xv% motion. Even if a trader lacks conviction in a potential retest of the $42,000 all-time loftier, opening shorts while Ether (ETH) blasts through $ane,600 seems risky.

Bitcoin and Ether USD prices at Bitstamp. Source: Digital Assets Data

Accept discover of how both leading cryptocurrencies tend to merchandise in tandem virtually of the fourth dimension even though investors could exist rotating from BTC to Ether due to its part in decentralized finance, explosive toll appreciation, and the attraction of Eth2 staking.

Data from TheTie, an alternative social analytics firm, besides found that Google searches for "purchase crypto" had recently striking an all-time high. Co-ordinate to the aforementioned source, there'due south been a 135% surge in cryptocurrency social media activeness over the past three months.

Adding to this bullish scenario, global payments giant, Visa appear that information technology is aggressively pursuing cryptocurrency partnerships, including debit cards and digital banks.

Lastly, a contempo 15,200 BTC ($515 million) outflow at Coinbase was deemed a 'bullish signal' past analysts at CryptoQuant. According to CryptoQuant, the outflow indicates an "OTC deal from institutional investors" who are possibly accumulating BTC into cold wallets.

These bullish signals contrast with the exchange-provided traders' long-to-short net positioning. This indicator is calculated by analyzing the client'southward consolidated position on the spot, perpetual and futures contracts and it provides a clearer view of whether professional traders are leaning bullish or bearish.

With this in mind, in that location are occasional discrepancies in the methodologies betwixt different exchanges, so viewers should monitor changes instead of absolute figures.

Commutation's top traders BTC long-to-brusque ratio. Source: Bybt.com

Over the by three days, top traders at every commutation analyzed have increased their shorts. Even though large traders, marketplace makers, and arbitrage desks may agree positions in their common cold wallets or Grayscale GBTC funds, the long-to-short ratio shows that there is a lack of confidence on whether BTC will push button through $38,000 and pursue the $40,000 level in the short term.

Moreover, the recent outperformance by Ether could accept been fueled past acme traders reducing BTC exposure. This makes even more sense because the upcoming CME ETH listing is on Feb. 8. It's merely natural that there would exist a surge in appetite among institutional investors.

Top traders could accept besides moved their BTC off commutation in search of better yield opportunities, so assuming that they've all entered short positions is a hasty conclusion.

If these pinnacle traders did enter BTC short positions, there would exist signs on derivatives markets. To disprove this theory, Friday's $1 billion options death notwithstanding favors bulls, who at the moment have many incentives to push the price above $twoscore,000.

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