Bitcoin Cash (BCH) has witnessed a significant price surge, trading at $574.84, marking a 9.06% increase as it gears up for its second halving next week. Data from NiceHash suggests investors are proactively solidifying their stakes in BCH with the April 4th halving event on the horizon.
Market Dynamics Ahead of the Halving
Trading activity in the futures market on March 28th indicated a notable shake-up with $190,140 worth of short positions and $211,870 worth of long positions liquidated. CoinGlass reports a substantial 18.26% uptick in Bitcoin Cash futures open interest within a single day and a 165% spike over the past week, culminating in a record $708.75 million open interest.
This peak in open interest surpasses the previous high in May 2021, which aligned with BCH’s five-year price zenith of $1,399, and starkly contrasts with the mere $63.29 million in futures open interest preceding the inaugural BCH halving in April 2020.
Impacts on Mining and Market Outlook
With the 2020 halving having reduced miner rewards from 12.5 to 6.25 BCH, there’s a noticeable intensification in mining efforts leading up to the new halving. DavidShares, a prominent platform user, informed his 17,900 followers about a doubling in the Bitcoin Cash hash rate over the last week.
The hash rate, indicative of a blockchain’s computational power for mining and transaction processing, has soared. Concurrently, Bitcoin Cash still trades notably below its record high of $4,355 from December 2017, despite Bitcoin’s own fourth halving scheduled for April 21st. This early occurrence of the BCH halving, relative to Bitcoin’s, stems from a temporary mining difficulty adjustment algorithm used by Bitcoin Cash in 2017, which accelerated block production.