Bitcoin Traders began 2026 on a positive note, taking options bets targeting a six-figure price increase.
Since at least Friday, there has been a notable increase in investor interest in the $100,000 January strike-call option listed on Deribit, the world’s largest crypto options exchange by volume and open interest.
A call option gives the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy the underlying asset at a predetermined price at a later date. The $100,000 call option represents a bet that bitcoin’s price will rise above this level at or before the expiration of the contract.
“Flow continues to be dominated by rolls, with a notable increase in interest around the 30 January 100,000 calls,” Jasper De Maere, desk strategist at Wintermute.
In the past 24 hours alone, the number of active or open contracts in that option has increased by 420 BTC, according to data source Amberdata. That equates to a theoretical open interest growth of $38.80 million, the largest among all January calls and across all platform-wide expirations on Deribit, where one option contract represents one BTC.
The option recently boasted a total theoretical open interest of $1.45 billion, with January expirations alone accounting for $828 million, according to data source Deribit Metrics.
The bullish positioning is consistent with the bullish sentiment that dominated most of 2025, with traders chasing call options at strikes from $100,000 to $140,000.
Demand for these bullish options could increase further if BTC’s price rally extends above $94,000, according to QCP Capital. The cryptocurrency is up about 5% in the first five days of the year, briefly topping $93,000 at one point early Monday.
“Post-[December] the expiration position has changed. BTC’s perpetual funding on Deribit is up over 30%, signaling that traders now lack gamma to the upside. This momentum was evident as spot pushed through 90k, triggering hedging flows to perpetual and near-dated calls,” QCP Capital said last week.
“A sustained move above 94k could amplify this effect,” the firm added.
