Bitcoins price collapse has changed market sentiment and betting on it is sliding further now, as hot as the moonshot plays above $100,000.
The leading cryptocurrency by market capitalization has fallen nearly 10% this week, hitting nine-month lows below $78,000, according to CoinDesk data. The price swoon has traders looking for put options, the derivative contracts that protect against a potential drop in bitcoin, like health insurance covers someone if they get sick.
The result: the dollar value of the number of active bitcoin put option contracts at the $75,000 level listed on Deribit now stands at $1.159 billion, which is almost equal to the so-called theoretical open interest of $1.168 billion locked in the $100,000 call option. Deribit is the world’s largest crypto options exchange by volume and open interest, with one contract representing 1 BTC.
In other words, the $75,000 put, which represents a bet that bitcoin’s spot price will fall below that level, is as popular as the $100,000 call, which has been a dominant play for weeks. The latter is a sign that prices will rise to six figures.
“[There has been a] massive increase in put buying over the last 48 hours (peak sensitivity) just as BTC spot crashed from 88k to 75k. Options traders/hedgers/funds had these exact price ranges targeted with clear playbooks in place,” said pseudonymous observer GravitySucks in an X post.
While the $75,000 put is the most popular bearish play, there is also significant open interest in puts at the $70,000, $80,000 and $85,000 strikes, while higher strike calls, except for the $100,000 one, lack similar activity.
This is in stark contrast to the pattern since President Donald Trump’s victory, where calls with higher strikes consistently attracted more interest than lower strikes. The earlier bullish positioning likely stemmed from hopes that valuations would rise with Trump making good on his campaign promises of pro-crypto regulations.
While the Trump administration delivered on much of that promise, BTC’s price surge still fell beyond $120,000 in early October and has been sliding ever since. In addition to the macro pressure, the delay in the structural bill in the crypto market has likely added to the frustration.
