Bitcoin Dips, But Its Forks Are Flying Again

Bitcoin pulled back from a seven-month peak this week, slipping toward $84,000 after topping about $87,250 earlier in the week. While the flagship coin cooled, traders rotated into two of its forks, producing some of the sharpest short-term gains those tokens have seen in months.

Bitcoin Cash was the clearest beneficiary after CME Group announced it would introduce Bitcoin Cash futures on Oct. 19, pending regulatory review. The exchange said standard contracts will represent 250 BCH and micro contracts will cover 25 BCH, creating regulated derivatives access for institutional and smaller traders alike. BCH jumped as much as 30% in the hours following the announcement, briefly trading near $358 before easing back.

Grayscale's filing to convert its Bitcoin Cash Trust into a spot ETF for NYSE Arca added an additional institutional-adoption narrative to the token, helping push BCH's weekly advance past 50% at one point. Bitcoin SV, a fork that split from Bitcoin Cash in the 2018 "Hash War," rose in sympathy, gaining about 20% and pressing toward an annual high near $21. Open interest in BSV derivatives also climbed, indicating traders were adding new positions rather than merely covering shorts.

Market observers noted the pattern is familiar: lower-market-cap forks can exhibit larger percentage moves when catalysts appear because smaller capital flows move prices more readily. Meanwhile, spot Bitcoin ETFs continued to attract inflows—pulling in $715 million on Tuesday—even as Bitcoin's price momentum moderated. CME's BCH and Uniswap contracts are scheduled to begin trading Oct. 19, subject to the exchange's regulatory review.