Key Points
- Despite recent selling pressure, Bitcoin options traders remain bullish, expecting a strong bounceback.
- Bitcoin call-put skew indicates a preference for call options or potential upside movements.
Despite recent selling pressure on Bitcoin (BTC), BTC derivatives data suggests that options traders remain optimistic.
In the past 24 hours, Bitcoin’s price has experienced additional selling pressure, falling below $65,000. Over the past two weeks, the price has declined by 10% from a high of $72,000.
Bitcoin Options Traders Remain Bullish
Data from the crypto derivatives platform Deribit indicates a bias towards call options at levels significantly higher than the current BTC price. This suggests that sophisticated investors anticipate the current price weakness will result in a strong rebound.
A call option gives the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy the underlying asset (in this case, BTC) at a pre-agreed price on a future date. Purchasing a call option indicates a bullish market sentiment.
According to a recent market update by QCP Capital, there has been a large flow into Bitcoin options with Dec and Mar expiry $90-$100K calls in the last 24 hours. This suggests that professional traders anticipate a bottom formation in Bitcoin soon, positioning themselves for a sustained rally that could extend into 2025.
Most of the activity in the last 24 hours has been focused on call options expiring in June at $65,000, $68,000, and $70,000, with additional interest seen in July calls at $110,000 and December calls at $95,000.
Bitcoin Call-Put Ratio
Amberdata indicates that the divergence between the options market sentiment and Bitcoin’s price is notably reflected in the call-put skew. This skew reveals the premium traders are willing to pay for asymmetric payouts in either the upward or downward direction.
The skew has remained consistently positive across different timeframes – one month, two months, three months, and six months – despite recent pullbacks in BTC price. This indicates a prevailing preference for call options or potential upside movements. However, the seven-day skew has turned negative, indicating increased demand for protective options against potential downside risks.
Recently, Bitcoin has been largely decoupling from the strong uptrend in Nasdaq. This is primarily due to selling by long-term holders and the sell-off from Bitcoin miners. In addition, there have been significant outflows from spot Bitcoin ETFs in the past week.
On June 20, the German government moved a total of 1,700 Bitcoins to crypto exchanges Coinbase, Kraken, and Bitstamp, with the intent of selling.
