Bitcoin Options Traders Set Sights on a Fresh All-Time High

(Bloomberg) — Options traders are increasing bets that Bitcoin will hit a record high by the end of the month on optimism about U.S. interest rate cuts and rising inflows into exchange-traded funds.

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Bitcoin call options with a strike price of $75,000 across all expirations have the most open interest, which is the number of contracts outstanding. This is followed by strike prices of $100,000 and $80,000, respectively, according to data compiled by Deribit, the largest crypto options exchange. Call options give buyers the right to buy the underlying asset at a fixed price within a certain period of time.

“Traders are optimistic and awaiting new all-time highs,” said Deribit CEO Luuk Strijers. “The bullish trend in the BTC options market is driven by strong BTC ETF flows, US interest rate cut expectation, ECB rate cut and ETH ETF approval.”

Bitcoin rose as high as $71,756 this week and was mostly little changed on Thursday after snapping a five-day winning streak.

The largest cryptocurrency has pulled back from a record high of $73,798 set on March 14 as demand for recently approved Bitcoin ETFs showed signs of cooling. Now, with expectations of a Federal Reserve rate cut fueling demand for risky assets, inflows have resumed and traders are setting their sights on a new high.

Call options expiring June 28 see the most open interest around the $75,000 strike price, while open interest for those expiring July 26 and December 27 is greatest around $100,000. “They all point to a positive short- and long-term outlook,” Strijers said.

Other crypto markets are also showing bullish signals. “Premiums on futures widened and perpetual contracts continued to trade at the spot premium,” said Vetle Lunde, senior research analyst at crypto specialist K33 Research. “A positive bias is spreading throughout the market.” Perpetual contracts are one of the most popular futures contracts used by crypto investors, allowing them to bet on prices without having to settle at a fixed time.

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