Crypto futures markets maintain persistently elevated basis yields compared to traditional commodity markets due to structural factors including continuous trading, high margin requirements, and retail leverage demand.
Too little corroboration in the last 3 days to call a trend (3 articles). Watching for it to gain traction.
Still mostly niche and specialist coverage — not yet picked up broadly by mainstream press.
"Consequently, an increasing number of digital asset holders are turning their attention to more diversified asset management strategies. Moving beyond the simple 'buy low, sell high' model, some investors are exploring ways to enhance the utilization of their existing digital assets and seeking sources of relatively consistent potential returns."
"In crypto markets, the annualized basis has historically ranged from 5% to more than 25%, with spikes above 40% during periods of extreme bullish sentiment. Three factors keep crypto basis elevated compared to traditional markets. First, crypto markets trade around the clock every day of the year... Second, the margining requirements on crypto futures are higher than on traditional commodity futures... Third, retail participation in crypto futures is proportionally larger than in traditional markets."
"Historically, crypto futures have been in contango approximately 85% of the time, which is why the trade has been consistently profitable over multi-year periods."