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There’s a huge $14 billion bitcoin options expiry this Friday and it points to $75,000 as price magnet

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On Friday, bitcoin options or derivative contracts worth billions will expire on crypto exchange Deribit. Traders might want to note that the dynamics of the expiry are such that BTC’s market price could be lifted toward a very specific point: $75,000.

Deribit, the world’s largest crypto options exchange, will settle bitcoin options contracts worth $14.16 billion on Friday at 08:00 UTC. This means nearly 40% of all open interest – the dollar value of all active contracts on the exchange – ware set to expire in roughly 48 hours. On Deribit, one options contract represents one BTC.

Options are contracts that let you bet on whether the price of an asset, such as BTC, will go up or down. A call option is a bet that the price will go up, and a put option is a bet that it will go down. Traders buy options to try to profit from price swings, or write (short) options to earn income while taking on the risk that prices move in favor of the buyer.

Here’s why the expiry matters

According to Deribit’s data, the ‘max pain’ price — the level where the most contracts would expire worthless (lottery tickets that don’t win) — sits right at $75,000.

As such, this level could act as a magnet, according to Deribit’s Chief Commerical Officer Jean-David Péquignot.

“With Bitcoin currently trading near $71k, the $75k Max Pain price represents a gravitational pull. Historically, this encourages delta-hedging by market makers that can drive prices toward the strike where the most options expire worthless,” Péquignot told CoinDesk.

Bitcoin March 27 options expiry. (Deribit)

Here’s how it works. As per the max pain theory, option writers — typically large funds, institutions, or market makers with ample capital — control or influence the spot price toward the pain point to limit payouts to buyers and thereby inflict maximum damage on them. This happens through normal trading in the spot or futures markets, rather than as a guaranteed manipulation.

This mechanical buying and selling often pulls the spot price closer to the max pain level, which is $75,000 in bitcoin’s case.

While max pain is well-known in traditional markets, its influence on crypto remains debated. Deribit, however, flags the level as a potential magnet. Adding to the intrigue, several analysts have identified $75,000 as key resistance, above which bitcoin could go into a full-bull mode.

Controlled expiry

Quarterly expiries typically spark massive position adjustments and hedging flows. Still, the impending expiry is likely unfold normally, without an outsized volatility surge.

That’s evident from the decline in the implied volatility index.

“Over the last sessions, we have witnessed an implied volatility (IV) compression, with both BTC and ETH DVOL dropping by ~6 points. This suggests the market is pricing in a controlled expiry rather than an immediate explosion in volatility,” Péquignot said.

He added that the market data suggests that traders aren’t chasing a breakout as geopolitical uncertainty in the form of Iran war lingers. He specifically pointed to call writing by institutions at higher strikes (levels above going spot price) as the evidence of measured bullish sentiment. Traders typically write overhead calls to collect premiums on top of their spot market holdings.

“The Put/Call ratio for Bitcoin options remains healthy (0.63), but the concentration of sell-side calls suggests a ceiling of institutional resistance as traders have been overwriting their positions to bank premium while waiting for the geopolitical clock to run out,” he noted.

All in all, the big expiry with $75,000 acting as a magnet comes at an intriguing juncture: bitcoin has held up remarkably well through the Iran war turbulence, maintaining strength even as equities wobble and energy markets remain fickle.

High-Performance Gaming from Anywhere: The Power of a Remote Gaming Desktop

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The landscape of interactive entertainment is shifting. No longer are players confined to a single physical location or a bulky, stationary rig to enjoy high-end titles. The emergence of a remote gaming desktop has unlocked a new level of freedom, allowing enthusiasts to access their favorite libraries on virtually any device, regardless of hardware limitations.

Whether you are traveling for work, lounging on a sofa with a tablet, or using a lightweight laptop at a cafe, the ability to stream a powerful PC environment ensures that your experience remains uncompromising. By leveraging the right software, the hardware you carry no longer dictates the quality of your play.

What is a Remote Gaming Desktop?

At its core, a remote gaming setup involves hosting your games on a high-spec machine—either a personal PC at home or a dedicated cloud server—and streaming the video output to a secondary device. This process allows the “guest” device to act as a window into a much more powerful system. The heavy lifting, such as real-time ray tracing and complex physics calculations, happens on the host machine, while the player interacts with the game via a low-latency stream.

To make this seamless, specialized software is required to handle the data transmission. These systems bridge the gap between raw power and portable convenience, ensuring that your data and graphics are delivered with precision across any network.

The Advantages of Going Remote

1. Device Independence

The primary draw is the ability to play AAA titles on hardware that traditionally lacks the graphical muscle. With a stable connection, a five-year-old laptop or a modern smartphone can display 4K graphics at high frame rates. This eliminates the need to carry a heavy, heat-generating gaming laptop when you’re on the move.

2. Centralized Library and Progress

When you use a remote setup, you aren’t managing different installs across multiple devices. Your save files, mods, and settings remain on your primary desktop. When you log in remotely, you pick up exactly where you left off, with all your custom configurations and game data intact.

3. Thermal and Noise Efficiency

High-end GPUs generate significant heat and fan noise under load. By gaming remotely, the loud, hot hardware stays in a dedicated space (like an office or a server room), while your immediate environment remains cool and quiet.

Overcoming Latency: The Golden Rule

The biggest challenge for any remote desktop user is “input lag.” In fast-paced competitive shooters or rhythm games, even a few milliseconds of delay can be the difference between victory and defeat.

Modern protocols have made massive strides in reducing this latency. High-efficiency video coding and optimized network handling mean that, on a standard fiber or 5G connection, the delay is often imperceptible to the human eye. To ensure you have the most stable connection possible, it is recommended to use software specifically engineered for low-latency tasks. For the best results, you can download StarDesk remote to test the responsiveness of a professional-grade streaming environment.

Setting Up Your Remote Experience

To get started with your own remote setup, follow these essential steps:

  • Network Optimization: For the host machine, a wired Ethernet connection is highly recommended. For the client device, a 5GHz Wi-Fi band or a stable 4G/5G signal is necessary to maintain a high bitrate.
  • Hardware Encoding: Ensure your host PC has a GPU that supports hardware acceleration (like NVENC or AMF). This allows the computer to compress the video stream instantly without taxing the CPU.
  • Peripheral Support: Choose a platform that supports your specific peripherals, such as gamepads, specialized mice, or even dual-monitor setups.

Use Cases Beyond Play

While “gaming” is in the name, this technology is also an incredible tool for creative professionals. The same GPU power used to render open-world environments can be used for 4K video editing, 3D modeling, and CAD software. For freelancers and agency owners, this means you can perform resource-intensive tasks from a client’s office or a hotel room without needing to transport an expensive workstation.

The Future of the Industry

As internet infrastructure continues to improve globally, the distinction between “local” and “remote” computing will continue to blur. We are moving toward a future where “the computer” is a service rather than a box under a desk.

By utilizing advanced streaming protocols, users can save money on hardware upgrades by extending the life of their portable devices. Instead of buying a new laptop every two years, you simply maintain a powerful central hub and stream that power whenever and wherever it is needed.

Conclusion

The flexibility offered by modern streaming is a game-changer for hobbyists and professionals alike. It represents a shift toward a more mobile, efficient, and accessible way to interact with technology. If you are ready to untether your experience from the desk and embrace true portability, the tools are already available to make it happen.

With the right setup, the world becomes your gaming station. Whether you’re across the room or across the globe, your high-performance PC is always just a click away, providing the power you need on the device you already own.

 







Strategy Buys 1,031 Bitcoin Using MSTR Stock Sales

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Michael Saylor’s Strategy, the world’s largest public holder of Bitcoin (BTC), bought another 1,031 Bitcoin last week in a much smaller purchase than its previous two weekly buys, funding the acquisition with sales of Class A common stock.

Strategy acquired 1,031 Bitcoin for $76.6 million last week, according to an 8-K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.

The purchases were made at an average price of $74,326 per coin, below the company’s overall average acquisition price of $75,694. Bitcoin averaged around $70,871 for the week of March 16-22, based on daily closing prices.

The new acquisitions bring Strategy’s holdings to 762,099 BTC, acquired for a total cost of roughly $57.69 billion, the company said.

Source: SEC

Common stock funded the latest buy

Strategy’s relatively modest purchase follows larger Bitcoin acquisitions recently, including a 22,337 BTC buy reported last Monday and a 17,994 BTC buy a week earlier.

The 22,337 BTC ($1.6 billion) purchase ranks among Strategy’s largest on record and was largely funded through sales of its perpetual preferred equity, Stretch (STRC). The stock generated approximately $1.2 billion, accounting for about 75% of the total purchase.

Related: Strategy records biggest STRC issuance day with estimated 1,420 BTC buy

Unlike the prior week’s funding mix, the latest purchase appears to have been funded through sales of Strategy’s Class A common stock rather than preferred equity.

Source: SEC

Strategy has bought 41,362 Bitcoin for around $2.93 billion in March. With Bitcoin trading at $70,430 at the time of writing, the company is down around 7% on its BTC holdings, now worth around $54 billion, according to data from CoinGecko.

Related: Strategy halts Bitcoin buying via STRC: Will BTC price dip again?

Strategy’s holdings are roughly 3% below the Bitcoin holdings of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT), which held about 785,300 BTC on behalf of its clients after the close of trading on Friday.

US spot Bitcoin ETFs collectively held nearly 1.3 million BTC as of March 20, representing roughly 6.1% of the 21 million maximum Bitcoin supply, according to data from WalletPilot.

Magazine: Metaplanet’s Japan Bitcoin bet, Bithumb ordered suspension: Asia Express