Bitcoin falls under $109K as traders brace for Friday’s $22B BTC options expiry

2 hours ago

Key takeaways:

  • Traders reduced bullish positions, signaling mixed marketplace sentiment up of Friday’s $22 cardinal monthly Bitcoin options expiry.

  • Stablecoin premiums and Bitcoin ETF inflows bespeak cautious optimism, suggesting traders whitethorn question gains successful the adjacent term.

Bitcoin (BTC) dropped to its lowest level successful implicit 3 weeks, triggering $275 cardinal successful liquidations of leveraged bullish positions. Traders are questioning whether the looming $22 cardinal BTC options expiry connected Friday explains the dip beneath $109,000 and if nonrecreational investors expect further terms declines.

Top traders long-to-short positions astatine Binance and OKX. Source: CoinGlass

At Binance, apical traders reduced agelong (bullish) positions connected Tuesday and Wednesday, driving the long-to-short ratio to 1.7x, the lowest level successful much than 30 days. As Bitcoin fell beneath $112,000, these traders began reversing course, adding upward vulnerability arsenic the indicator dilatory climbed backmost to 1.9x successful favour of longs.

Meanwhile, whales and marketplace makers astatine OKX moved successful the other direction, adding longs betwixt Tuesday and Wednesday, apt betting that $112,000 enactment would hold. By Thursday, OKX’s long-to-short ratio surged to 4.2x, the highest successful implicit 2 weeks. Bitcoin’s diminution to $108,700, however, caught these players disconnected guard, forcing them to trim leverage astatine a loss.

Bitcoin enactment options would instrumentality $1 cardinal pb if terms falls beneath $110,000

Bearish bets for Bitcoin’s monthly options expiry astatine 8:00 americium UTC connected Friday targeted the $95,000 to $110,000 range. If bulls neglect to reclaim the $110,000 level by then, enactment (sell) options would summation a $1 cardinal advantage. 

Some analysts, however, expect selling unit to easiness aft the expiry, arsenic BTC derivatives person demonstrated resilience successful caller weeks, with unfastened involvement and backing rates remaining comparatively unchangeable contempt the caller terms dip.

Bitcoin futures premium comparative to the spot market, annualized. Source: laevitas.ch

Bitcoin’s 2-month futures premium comparative to spot markets held dependable astatine 5%, wrong the neutral 5% to 10% range. This indicates constricted appetite for bullish positions, portion besides reflecting that shorts are cautious and not aggressively betting connected further downside. Bitcoin futures unfastened involvement remains robust astatine $79 billion, down 3% implicit the past 2 days, according to CoinGlass data.

Additionally, Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded $241 cardinal successful nett inflows connected Wednesday, supporting mean optimism among investors. At the aforesaid time, concerns implicit the US labour market mentioned by US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell persist. The Labor Department reported Thursday that continuing jobless claims were comparatively level astatine 1.926 cardinal for the week ending Sept. 13.

Bitcoin nether unit owed to imaginable US authorities shutdown

Bitcoin is facing unit from traders’ rising hazard aversion, peculiarly amid concerns astir a imaginable US authorities shutdown. A memo from US President Trump’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), archetypal reported by Politico, instructed authorities agencies to revise plans up of a imaginable discretionary backing lapse connected Oct. 1.

Stablecoin request successful China provides further penetration into traders’ positioning. Typically, a beardown involvement successful cryptocurrencies pushes stablecoins astir 2% supra the authoritative US dollar rate. By contrast, a discount exceeding 0.5% often signals fear, arsenic traders exit the crypto market.

Related: Bitcoin crumbles beneath $109K, but information shows buyers stepping in

Tether (USDT/CNY) vs. US dollar/CNY. Source: OKX

Currently, Tether (USDT) is trading astatine a humble 0.3% premium comparative to the authoritative USD/CNY rate, suggesting a neutral market. This indicates that immoderate traders whitethorn beryllium injecting superior into cryptocurrencies to instrumentality vantage of the caller dip, supporting the presumption of those expecting gains pursuing Friday’s options expiry.

This nonfiction is for wide accusation purposes and is not intended to beryllium and should not beryllium taken arsenic ineligible oregon concern advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed present are the author’s unsocial and bash not needfully bespeak oregon correspond the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

View source