Bitcoin Cash open interest folds 47% since halving as price slides

The majority of its price decline occurred on April 10, with a steep drop of 7.51% within a three-hour window.

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Open Interest (OI) and its price have plummeted in the seven days since its halving, erasing a brief stint of extra momentum leading up to the April 4 event. 

On April 12, the OI for Bitcoin Cash sat at $378.3 million, down by a massive 47% from its peak of $708.5 million before the BCH halving, as per CoinGlass data.

The decline in OI coincided with a 13% drop in the price of BCH.

The majority of its price decline occurred on April 10, with a steep drop of 7.51% within a three-hour window, after four days of tight fluctuation between $676 and $691, as per CoinMarketCap data.

The behavior is a complete flip on the week after the 2020 halving event, it’s first-ever halving. At the time, Bitcoin Cash saw upward momentum, rising 4.7%, while OI rose 10% to $73.86 million.

Back then, Bitcoin Cash was just under 3 years old. However, there have been debates over Bitcoin Cash’s use cases, mainly its lower transaction processing costs and reduced energy requirements for verifying new blocks.

Related: Bitcoin Cash price hiccups amid second-ever halving event

The Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash communities have been seen clashing again.

On March 18, Blockstream CEO Adam Back asked early Bitcoin adopter Roger Ver in a post on X to rejoin the Bitcoin community after he left for the Bitcoin Cash community a number of years ago.

“Join the f*cking party @rogerkver it’s just warming up. you know you want to. you don’t have to go it alone, be the prodigal son and return.”

Roger Ver, commonly known as “Bitcoin Jesus,” is a strong advocate for Bitcoin Cash, claiming it aligns more closely with Satoshi Nakamoto’s original vision for Bitcoin.

Ver argues that Bitcoin Cash is better positioned to serve as both a store of value and a currency due to its lower transaction fees.

Meanwhile, many investors are taking positions in Bitcoin, eagerly anticipating a rise as the halving approaches next week.

At the time of publication, Bitcoin’s OI stands at $34.89 billion, which is approximately 15 times higher than it was eight days before the halving in May 2020.