Bitcoin Traders Go Defensive: Puts Outpace Calls as Open Interest Contracts

by

Traders Hedge Hard: <a href="https://investment-policy.com/btc-usd/">Bitcoin</a> Put Volume Outpaces Calls 54.87% to 45.13%

As of 10 a.m. Eastern time on Sunday, Bitcoin is currently trading around $66,810. In my analysis of futures and options data, I’m seeing a defensive posture from traders. Specifically, open interest is decreasing, suggesting people are closing positions, and put options – which profit from price declines – are being bought more actively than call options. Interestingly, the price level where most options holders would experience losses – the ‘max pain’ level – is significantly higher than Bitcoin’s current trading price.

Key Takeaways:

  • Bitcoin futures open interest across all exchanges fell to $46.94B, with Binance and CME leading at $8.09B and $7.24B.
  • Put volume on Deribit outpaced calls 54.87% to 45.13% in 24 hours, signaling short-term defensive trader positioning.
  • Deribit max pain for the April 24 expiry sits near $70K, roughly $3,000 above BTC’s current $66,810 spot price.

Bitcoin Futures Open Interest Falls to $46.94B

Total bitcoin futures open interest (OI) across all exchanges stands at 703,140 BTC, equivalent to $46.94 billion, according to Coinglass futures stats. That figure has pulled back meaningfully from the peaks seen in late 2025, when exchange-level open interest briefly touched the $100 billion range alongside BTC prices near $140,000.

Binance leads all venues with 121,250 BTC in open interest worth $8.09 billion, holding a 17.23% market share. CME follows closely at 108,480 BTC, or $7.24 billion, representing 15.42% of total futures open interest globally. OI across the board is softening. CME posted a 0.49% drop in open interest over the past 24 hours. Binance fell 0.96%, OKX shed 0.31%, and Bybit declined 0.20%.

Bitcoin futures data via Coinglass on April 5, 2026.

MEXC and Hyperliquid were the outliers, each logging slight gains of 0.63% and 8.03%, respectively. BingX posted the biggest 24-hour OI jump at 31.77%, though its total footprint of $588.47 million remains a fraction of the top-tier venues. The overall market recorded a modest 1-hour OI change of negative 0.32%, with the 24-hour aggregate up just 1.27%.

The Options Playing Field

On the options side, total BTC options open interest has pulled back sharply from the peak of roughly $65 billion seen in early 2025, when bitcoin was testing highs above $100,000. Current options open interest sits near $30 billion, based on metrics collected by Coinglass. Deribit remains the dominant options venue, with calls outpacing puts in overall open interest at 56.75% versus 43.25%. In raw terms, that breaks down to 243,090 BTC in calls versus 185,259 BTC in puts on Deribit.

When it comes to actual trading volume over the past 24 hours, puts won the day. Bearish contracts accounted for 54.87% of all options traded, with 9,512 BTC in puts moving versus 7,824 BTC in calls. The busiest single contract was a April 24 put at the $62,000 strike, meaning traders paid to protect themselves in case bitcoin falls below that level before expiry.

Bitcoin options data via Coinglass on April 5, 2026.

The biggest open interest positions are split between December 2026 bets on bitcoin reaching $120,000 and a put at $60,000 for the same date, each holding over 6,000 BTC in size. Closer in, the April 24 put at $62,000 carries 4,648 BTC in open interest. That contract pays out if bitcoin drops below $62,000 before April 24 settlement, and enough traders own it to make it worth watching.

CME options open interest by expiration bucket via Cryptoquant shows a notable rotation. As of early April, the dominant concentration sits in the one-to-two-month expiry range, with longer-dated contracts filling in modestly below. The overall CME options OI by contract count has dropped to roughly 10,000 contracts, near its lowest level since mid-2024.

Data from the CME shows that more traders are betting on Bitcoin’s price going down (through put options) than betting on it going up (through call options), and this trend has been consistent since November 2025, even as the price has risen somewhat from around $65,000. On Deribit, the highest concentration of options contracts expiring on April 24th are centered around a price of $70,000, representing roughly $6 billion worth of contracts.

Max Pain Curves

Deribit’s max pain curve peaks around $77,000 to $78,000 at the June 26 expiry before pulling back toward $75,000 through the September and December 2026 contracts. On Binance, max pain for the April 24 date sits near $71,500, while the June and September contracts carry max pain levels pushing toward $90,000. OKX shows a similar April 24 max pain near $71,000, with the September 2026 contract carrying a max pain reading close to $80,000.

All three venues share a common theme: with spot bitcoin sitting at $66,810, current prices sit roughly $3,000 to $4,000 below the nearest max pain concentration at the April 24 expiry. That gap creates gravitational pull, at least in theory, as options market makers have an incentive to see price drift higher into settlement. Whether the broader macro environment or Trump’s statements allow that drift is another question entirely.

The recent dip in price and trading activity is typical of pauses during a larger market trend. Traders focusing on the April 24 options expiry at Deribit are watching the $62,000 put and $72,000 call options closely, as these have the most activity. The $75,000 call option is also heavily traded. With the current price around $66,810, the market is balanced, meaning the price could realistically move up or down as the expiry date nears.

Right now, bitcoin‘s derivatives market is telling a cautious story, and the upcoming expiry is the next real test.

Read More

2026-04-05 17:27