Bitcoin edges closer to $91,000 as attention turns to two CME price gaps

Bitcoin Faces Technical Pressure from Unfilled CME Gap

Bitcoin (BTC) recently slipped to just above $91,000, and technical factors may be at play as an unfilled CME gap lingers just beneath the current price level.

This gap emerged over the weekend when CME bitcoin futures, which ended Friday near $90,600, reopened on Sunday evening around $91,600.

CME bitcoin futures are cash-settled contracts that mirror the price movements of bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency. Unlike spot markets that operate around the clock, these futures pause trading for an hour daily and remain closed on weekends. As a result, significant price changes during these periods can create gaps in the chart.

Traders pay close attention to these gaps, since bitcoin has a history of revisiting and trading through them—a phenomenon known as “filling the gap.”

Although not a certainty, gap fills have occurred often enough to become a widely recognized pattern in the market. Frequently, bitcoin retraces to fill these gaps within days, often during the first week after the gap appears, though some gaps can persist for longer periods.

This pattern is similar to options trading theories, where key technical levels can shape price movements. Much like max pain, the existence of a CME gap can influence trader behavior, as many anticipate a move toward the gap simply because it is present.

A comparable situation is developing with BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) ETF, which ended Tuesday at $52.45. Notably, gaps remain open near the $48 and $50 marks, suggesting that ETF trading may increasingly reflect technical patterns seen in futures markets. As IBIT becomes a more significant part of the bitcoin ecosystem and approaches the influence of CME futures, these gaps may serve as additional technical markers for market participants.

At the time of writing, CME bitcoin futures are trading close to $91,900. To close the weekend gap near $90,600, bitcoin would need to decline by about 1.6%. An additional drop of 4% would be necessary to fill the gap left from New Year’s Day around $88,000.