Українська
Русский
English
Bitcoin traders are placing billions on a drop below $75,000 and selling positions on further price growth
The collapse in Bitcoin’s price has changed the market situation: bets on its decline are now traded as actively as bets on its rapid rise above $100,000.
According to CoinDesk, the leading cryptocurrency by market capitalization fell nearly 10% this week, reaching a 9-month low below $78,000. The sharp price drop is forcing traders to actively seek put options — derivative contracts that protect against a potential decline in Bitcoin’s price, similar to how medical insurance covers expenses in case of illness.
As a result, the dollar value of active Bitcoin put option contracts with a $75,000 strike on Deribit now stands at $1,159,000,000, nearly matching the so-called notional open interest of $1,168,000,000 locked in the $100,000 call option. Deribit is the world’s largest cryptocurrency options exchange by trading volume and open interest. One contract represents 1 $BTC.
In other words, the $75,000 put option, which represents a bet that the spot price of Bitcoin will fall below this level, is just as popular as the $100,000 call option that dominated the market for several weeks. The latter represents a bet that prices will rise into six-digit territory.
“Over the past 48 hours, there has been a sharp increase in put option buying (sensitivity peaked) exactly when the spot price of $BTC fell from $88,000 to $75,000. Traders, hedgers, or funds working with options precisely identified these price ranges and had clear action plans,” wrote the anonymous observer GravitySucks in a post on X.
Put option activity is higher than call option activity. Source: Deribit.
While the $75,000 strike put option is the most popular bearish strategy, significant open interest is also observed in put options with strikes at $70,000, $80,000, and $85,000, while call options with higher strikes, except for $100,000, do not show similar activity.
This sharply contrasts with the trend observed after President Donald Trump’s victory, when call options with higher strikes consistently attracted more attention than put options with lower strikes. The previous bullish stance was likely driven by hopes for a sharp rise in asset prices after Trump fulfilled his campaign promises regarding pro-cryptocurrency regulation.
Although the Trump administration fulfilled most of these promises, the growth in $BTC’s price eventually faded. The $120,000 mark was passed in early October, and since then a decline has been observed. In addition to macroeconomic pressure, the situation was likely worsened by delays in passing a bill on the structure of the cryptocurrency market.
See also: "During the crypto market decline, XRP trading volume increased by 74%"
