Bitcoin’s latest push higher has prompted at least one big options bet. Data from Laevitas shows that on Monday, one or more traders bought 2,000 call option contracts on Bitcoin with an $82,000 strike price expiring September 4. The total premium paid was about $2.9 million. If Bitcoin trades above $82,000 by then, the position gains value. If not, the premium is lost. That’s how call options work, sort of like a lottery ticket but with defined risk.
Bitcoin was changing hands around $80,000 at the time of writing, after a strong run from roughly $64,000 a week earlier. That is a gain of about 25% in seven days, according to CoinDesk data.
What drove the move
The rally seems to have several causes. The U.S. Treasury announced a bond-buyback plan, which may have helped risk appetite. Spot Bitcoin ETFs have continued to see inflows. There were also short liquidations, which likely accelerated the uptrend. When many short sellers are forced to cover, the price can move faster and push even higher.
Still, the market is not without caution. The options complex on Deribit, where large institutional flows are common, still shows a cautious tone. One useful gauge is skew, or the difference in implied volatility between calls and puts. Negative skew means demand for puts, or downside protection, is stronger than demand for calls.
Laevitas noted that Bitcoin’s seven-day skew went from +2.36% to -5.17%. Ethereum’s skew dropped from +3.41% to -12.15%. That’s a notable flip.
Caution still present
The user of those big call options is clearly positioning for another leg up. But the broader options market suggests that many traders are also buying protection. Laevitas described the situation as downside protection being bid aggressively after a violent rally that stalled in the high 70s. They also pointed to a wall of event risk later in the week. Even after Bitcoin pushed above $80,000, the seven-day skew remained negative.
That doesn’t mean the bull case is broken. It just means the sentiment is mixed. The large call purchase is a bold bet, but it’s a small slice of an enormous derivatives market. Other traders may be hedging, expecting a pullback or a volatile few days. The next few sessions could show which side is closer to being right.
