As a seasoned crypto investor with a keen interest in market trends, I find the recent developments in the Bitcoin options market intriguing. While last week’s price volatility saw put options briefly entering profitability, the overall bullish sentiment among traders remains unshaken. The dominance of call options and their increasing volume for September 27 contracts suggest that investors remain optimistic about Bitcoin prices hovering around all-time highs by then.


As a researcher examining data from Kaiko, I’ve noticed a consistent bullish sentiment among Bitcoin option traders, even in the face of recent market volatility.

Last week, Bitcoin went through price fluctuations. For a brief moment, it dropped under $57,000. However, over the weekend, its value recovered due to alleviated apprehensions regarding Federal Reserve’s interest rates.

Bullish Shift in the Bitcoin Options Market

Last week’s drop in Bitcoin’s price worked out nicely for me as a investor holding put options with expiry at the end of May, specifically within the $57,000 to $60,000 range. These options moved into profitability territory, providing a welcome boost amidst the challenging macroeconomic conditions.

Approximately 28% of the trades executed on Deribit before the May 31 expiration involved put options. These contracts allow traders to sell an underlying asset at a fixed price in the future. Traders holding these positions were either protecting their portfolios from potential losses or betting on further price decreases.

From my perspective as an analyst, when bitcoin’s price surpassed $64,000, those put options I held no longer yielded profits. Instead, call options in the $60,000 to $65,000 range regained profitability. The value of approximately $600 million in call options with a strike price set at $80,000 remains out of the money.

Despite the recent change, there are still more call purchases than put sales in terms of quantity, indicating a generally optimistic attitude among investors regarding Bitcoin’s future price movement. In the upcoming expiration on September 27 for Bitcoin options contracts, the call options with a strike price of $65,000 have gained significant popularity.

As an analyst, I can interpret this data by saying: Approximately $300 million is set to generate profits if bitcoin’s price stays above $65,000 by September’s end. This observation underscores a prevailing bullish attitude among investors, pointing towards expectations of prices nearing all-time highs by then.

Meme Coins Lead in Leverage

During the recent market correction, the values of many meme coins have dropped. However, some of these coins have managed to keep their significant influence among the top 30 altcoins based on market capitalization.

Kaiko’s findings indicate that PEPE and WIF have notable leverage ratios, almost doubling those of other altcoins. Following in the rankings is Filecoin’s FIL token, which gained momentum after its Solana integration in mid-February. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) comes next in this group.

Influencing crypto prices, particularly for altcoins, derivatives markets play a significant role thanks to traders’ speculative behavior. The open interest to market cap ratio is an indicator of the intensity of trading compared to a cryptocurrency’s overall value. Elevated ratios suggest that pricing is predominantly influenced by derivative markets rather than other determinants.

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2024-05-07 18:25