Ethereum Classic (ETC) Surges 40% Following Binance Futures Listing

Following this week’s triumphant Bitcoin rally, it seems that dozens of altcoins have been seeing significant price jumps. And today, it would seem that Ethereum Classic has jumped on the bandwagon too.

In fact, ETC has seen a huge surge of about 40% over the course of the last 24 hours and as of today, Friday, January 17th, 2020, is sitting in around $11.6. 

That’s a 280% increase after ETC hit its lowest price of $3.50 at the end of last year.

The popular opinion is that the apparent surge in ETC’s price is directly linked to it having recently been listed on Binance’s Futures trading platform, where the cryptocurrency’s holders now have the ability go both short and long on their investments while maintaining up to a 75x leverage.

ETC Listed On Binance Futures Trading Platform

As of Thursday, January 16th, 2020, the ever-popular Binance exchange, announced that ETC futures were now going to be available to its traders. This comes after Binance Futures was launched in September of last year.

Essentially, Binance Futures offers its traders the ability to use leverage and hold short or long positions on their cryptocurrency investments.

According to the latest announcements, Binance’s ETC futures trading will be based on “perpetual contracts”, which are somewhat different from a traditional futures contract. The main difference is that perpetual contracts do not have a predetermined expiry or settlement date.

Instead, the investment is anchored at its spot index price, and traders may choose to terminate the contract whensoever they choose to do so.

A 40% Surge in 24 Hours

Ethereum Classic’s recent surge comes at a time when the crypto-world is seeing price jumps amongst dozens of other altcoins. 

And although ETC is still miles away from it’s all-time highest price, which peaked at just over $45 USD in January of 2018, this recent surge has left the market wondering if Ethereum Classic is on its way to new heights once again.

Will this uptrend continue? Or is it just another bubble caused by all the hype surrounding Binance’s recent listing of ETC futures?

Regardless, due to this recent bullish behavior, Ethereum Classic has now achieved a market capitalization of roughly $1.1 billion USD, setting it as the 14th biggest cryptocurrency by market cap.