Key Takeaways:
Bitcoin traders amassed $49.82 billion in futures open interest and stacked call options at $72,000 and $80,000 strikes, pointing to institutional conviction in a year-end rally.
Bitcoin futures open interest hit $49.82 billion on July 22 as traders piled into call options at $72,000 and $80,000, data from Coinglass and Deribit show. The total across tracked exchanges reached 755,780 BTC, with Binance holding the largest share at $9.24 billion and CME ranking second at $6.97 billion.
"Little evidence of aggressive new spot buying exists — the recovery has been driven mostly by derivatives positioning and a lack of sellers," Bitfinex analysts wrote in a research note shared with Bitcoin.com News. Thirty-day bitcoin trading volumes are running at just 62 percent of the annual average, they said, while CME bitcoin futures open interest has dropped to its lowest level since 2023.
On Deribit, call options accounted for 65.27 percent of total open interest versus 34.73 percent for puts, with the largest single position being the July 31 expiry $72,000 call at 26,265.5 BTC. The $80,000 call expiring Dec. 25 held 7,602.2 BTC of open interest, showing conviction extending beyond the near term. Total options open interest rose 2.66 percent to $31.9 billion, with 24-hour volume at $3.08 billion. The put-to-call ratio fell to 0.56, a multi-month low that Bitfinex said reflects fading downside bets rather than a wave of new spot demand.
The divergence between institutional and retail positioning sets up a potential catalyst into the fourth quarter. CME open interest climbed 1.80 percent over the past day while retail-heavy venues like Gate and MEXC saw declines of 12.73 percent and 9.66 percent, respectively. Max pain on Binance — the level where most options expire worthless — points to $72,000 by late September, the highest projection among major exchanges. Next week's Federal Reserve decision will test whether the rally can sustain without fresh spot buying, with Strategy holding its bitcoin stash unchanged at 843,775 BTC for two consecutive weeks.
Options Flow Tells a Bullish Story
The options market's structure reinforces the upside bias. On Deribit, 24-hour trading volume showed calls outpacing puts 53.36 percent to 46.64 percent, indicating traders added fresh upside exposure in real time rather than merely holding existing positions. Elevated turnover around strikes just above current market levels — the $68,000 and $70,000 calls expiring July 31 — reflects what traders call "chasing demand," where participants seek convex upside exposure via options rather than spot.
CME's bitcoin options open interest has climbed from roughly $10 million in June to $50 million to $60 million currently, according to CryptoQuant data. While puts have consistently outweighed calls in dollar terms across most of the past year, the gap has narrowed as bitcoin's price recovered from its February lows near $60,000.
Bitcoin traded at $65,971 at 11:45 a.m. EDT on Tuesday. The concentration of open interest in late-July strikes between $68,000 and $72,000 means price action may become more reactive around those levels as expiry approaches and dealers adjust hedges.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
