Sentiment Shift in Bitcoin as $80K Put Emerges as Most Popular Bet

Need grounds of the drastic alteration successful the crypto marketplace sentiment lately? Look nary further than Deribit's options market, wherever the $80,000 bitcoin (BTC) enactment option, offering downside extortion beneath the said level, is present the astir fashionable bet.

It's a 180-degree alteration from aboriginal this twelvemonth erstwhile telephone options astatine six-figure levels garnered the astir involvement among traders.

As of writing, the fig of unfastened positions successful the $80,000 enactment enactment tallied 10,278 contracts, equating to a notional unfastened involvement of $864.26 million, according to information root Amberdata. That makes it the astir fashionable options play connected Deribit, wherever 1 declaration represents 1 BTC.

It besides marks a important positioning displacement from aboriginal January erstwhile the telephone enactment astatine the $120,000 strike was the astir fashionable stake with an unfastened involvement of astir $1.5 billion. Last month, the $100,000 telephone took the crown.

The positioning displacement indicates traders person reassessed upside expectations amid the marketplace swoon and lingering economical uncertainty. BTC fell 11.66% successful the archetypal quarter, with prices slipping beneath $80,000 astatine 1 constituent arsenic President Donald Trump's tariffs shook Wall Street. Additionally, disappointment implicit the deficiency of caller purchases successful the U.S. strategical reserve weighed implicit prices.

Later Wednesday, Trump is expected to denote sweeping reciprocal tariffs connected its trading partners, which could pb to a full-blown commercialized war. That has BTC traders chasing downside protection.

"BTC volatility smiles person shifted sharply towards OTM puts, reaching levels not seen since the US Banking Crisis successful March 2023. ETH's short-tenor volatility grin skews person partially recovered from their beardown tilt toward OTM put," analytics steadfast Block Scholes said successful its marketplace update Wednesday.