Bitcoin (BTC) options open interest expanded from $30.33 billion on April 21 to $37.92 billion on April 24, a 25% jump that outpaced Bitcoin’s 5.5% rise from $87,506 to $92,352 over the same stretch.
Such a swift build in notional exposure shows traders rushing to add convex positions rather than thickening linear futures books. This shift often precedes sharp spot moves once dealers start adjusting delta hedges.
Deribit’s strike sheet explains the mood. The largest concentration sits at $100,000, where 17,420 call contracts tower above every other level. Another 10,660 calls rest at $110,000 and 11,730 at $95,000, while 11,600 calls cluster at $90,000.
On the downside, puts are arrayed at $80,000 (11,590 contracts), $75,000 (10,880), and $70,000 (10,400). In aggregate, calls total 51,410 contracts versus 32,870 puts, a 1.56 call-to-put ratio that leans firmly toward upside exposure even though Bitcoin has yet to revisit its March high near $97,000.
Because most of these strikes sit out-of-the-money, the options book carries sizeable positive gamma that intensifies as the spot price climbs. An option is out-of-the-money when its strike sits on the wrong side of the current spot price; calls have strikes above spot, puts below, so the contract would have no intrinsic value if exercised immediately.
Gamma measures how quickly an option’s delta (its price sensitivity to the underlying) changes for each one-unit move in the underlying; high positive gamma means the position’s hedge requirement accelerates as spot nears the strike, often forcing dealers to buy when the price rises and sell when it falls.
When Bitcoin probed above $93,000 on April 22 and April 23, dealers who sold these calls began buying spot and CME futures to stay neutral, reinforcing the advance. Once the market slipped back to the low $92,000s on April 24, that same gamma flipped, forcing small‐scale sales that kept the pullback orderly. In short, the strike distribution is already steering intraday flows despite the contracts being weeks away from expiry.
The options-to-futures open-interest ratio confirms the structural change. After hovering near 55% early in the week, the metric edged down to 54.23% on April 23, then vaulted to 58.76% by April 25, the highest reading this quarter.
A ratio pushing toward 60% tells us the options market is absorbing liquidity faster than the futures market. Larger relative options exposure generally corresponds with higher implied volatility and more pronounced dealer hedging feedback loops, both conditions that can magnify spot swings in both directions.
Several observations follow from the current setup. First, a price move through $95,000 would push a large pocket of call open interest into the money, forcing counterparties to chase spot and possibly drag Bitcoin toward the psychological $100,000 level. Second, downside protection is thin between $85,000 and $80,000; should spot break below that shelf, put gamma could accelerate the fall toward $75,000 where the next notable block of interest sits.
Third, the rapid expansion of notional exposure relative to a modest spot advance reveals traders paying for leverage rather than deploying fresh capital outright, a stance that can unwind suddenly if spot stalls. Fourth, the growing options share of total derivatives activity hints that sophisticated desks are bracing for wider price ranges during the remainder of the quarter, a view consistent with rising implied volatility across one-month tenors on Deribit.
Finally, the combination of elevated call interest, heavy dealer gamma, and a still-robust futures base means any decisive break of key strikes could inject a burst of directional energy that pushes Bitcoin closer to $100,000.
A close above $94,000 would leave the market barely two percent from lighting the $95,000 and $100,000 clusters, creating conditions for reflexive upside. Conversely, a drift below $88,000 would place dealers long gamma against sizable put positions, potentially smoothing declines into the high 70,000s, but also draining speculative momentum.
Either path carries more kinetic potential than last week because the street is now running a larger, more top-heavy options book against a futures base that has not grown in tandem.
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