Bitcoin traders are paying record prices for downside protection, according to VanEck’s Bitcoin ChainCheck in mid-March 2026, a sign that investors remain defensive even as spot prices begin to stabilize.
In the report, senior VanEck analysts said bitcoin’s 30-day average price fell 19% from the previous period, while realized volatility fell from around 80 to just above 50.
Futures funding rates also fell to 2.7% from 4.1%, suggesting that leveraged speculation has cooled.
Options markets show that investors are as cautious as possible. VanEck said the put/call open interest ratio averaged 0.77 and peaked at 0.84, the highest level since June 2021, when China cracked down on bitcoin mining.
Traders spent about $685 million on put options over the past 30 days, while call premiums fell 12% to about $562 million, the report added. Relative to spot volume, put premiums reached about 4 basis points, a record high in VanEck’s data.
“Relative to spot volume, put premiums reached an all-time high of around 4 basis points, roughly 3 times the level seen in mid-2022 following the Terra/Luna stablecoin collapse and Ethereum liquidity crisis,” the report reads.
This means that investors pay for insurance against further losses.
VanEck said those kinds of fears have often marked turning points rather than new collapses. The firm found that similar opportunities with skewed readings over the past six years were followed by average bitcoin gains of 13% over 90 days and 133% over 360 days.
The report also points out that onchain activity has remained weak, while miner sales remain limited.
