OKEx introduces Ethereum-based perpetual swaps, no market reaction so far

Ethereum is changing hands at $127.15, down 4% since the beginning of the day. The is trading in a range with a downside bias as the cryptocurrency market is retracing from the recent highs reached ahead of Christmas

Cryptocurrency exchange OKEx launched a perpetual swap - a cryptocurrency derivative based on Ethereum. According to the announcement published on the company's website, the instruments are available for trading since December 26, 13.00 (CET). 

Perpetual ETH-swaps allow OKEx customers to trade the cryptocurrency with 40x leverage. The contract is denominated in ETH and equivalent to $10. The swap price is determined on the basis of the prices for ETH against USD and BTC provided by Bitstamp, OKEx, Bitfinex, GDAX, and Gemini. 

The company also plans to add perpetual swaps for LTC, ETC, XRP, BCH, and BSV.

Ethereum's technical picture

On the intraday charts, ETH/USD is supported by SMA50 (4-hour). currently at $122.66. The price touched this barrier ahead of the European opening, but managed to recover pretty quickly. Once this obstacle out of the way, the sell-off may continue towards critical $120.00, where a fresh buying interest is likely to appear.

On the upside, the resistance is created by psychological $130.00 and followed by a congestion zone at $133.50. It also represents two shoulders on the "Head-and-Shoulder" formation on the 4-hour chart. If it is broken, the upside may be extended towards $150.00 and to the recent high at $161.

ETH/USD, 4-hour chart