Open interest on Bitcoin (BTC) options increased from $30.33 billion on April 21 to $379.2 billion on April 24. The 25% jump saw Bitcoin rise to $92,352, with 5.5% of Bitcoin rising to $87,506 on the same stretch.
Such rapid conceptual exposure shows that traders are in a hurry to add convex positions rather than thicken the book of linear futures. This shift often precedes the movement of the sharp spot as the dealer begins adjusting the delta hedge.
Delivit’s strike sheet explains the mood. The maximum concentration is $100,000, with 17,420 call contracts above all other levels. Another 10,660 calls will be $110,000, $11,730 for $95,000, and 11,600 will be invoked a $90,000 cluster.
On the downside, puts are located at $80,000 (11,590 contracts), $75,000 (10,880) and $70,000 (10,400). The tally calls a total of 51,410 contracts and 32,870 puts. This is a put countermeasure ratio of 1.56, despite Bitcoin not yet revisiting its March high of nearly $97,000, and it leaps firmly towards an upward exposure.
Most of these strikes are out of money, so optional books have a pretty positive gamma that intensifies as spot prices rise. The option is out of money when the strike is on the wrong side of the current spot price. The call has a strike above it and is under it, so if exercised immediately, the contract will not have intrinsic value.
Gamma measures how quickly the optional delta (the sensitivity of the underlying price) changes with each underlying unit movement. A high positive gamma means that the hedging requirements for positions will accelerate as the spot approaches a strike, and often forces sellers to buy when prices rise.
When Bitcoin surveyed over $93,000 on April 22 and April 23, the dealers who sold these phones began purchasing spots and CME futures to keep them neutral, strengthening their advance payments. When the market returned to a low $92,000 on April 24th, the same gamma turned over, forcing small sales to keep the pullback orderly. In short, even though the contract is a few weeks away from its expiration date, the distribution of strikes is already steering the flow of the day.
The open interest ratio of options confirms the structure change. After hovering to nearly 55% earlier in the week, the metric fell to 54.23% on April 23, and by April 25 it was 58.76%.
The pushing ratio at 60% indicates that the options market is absorbing liquidity faster than the futures market. Larger exposures of relative options generally correspond to higher implicit volatility and more prominent dealer hedge feedback loops.
Several observations follow from the current setup. First, price movements through $95,000 will push a big pocket of interest on a massive call open into money, chasing spots at counterparties, and perhaps dragging Bitcoin to the psychological $100,000 level. Second, downside protection is thin between $85,000 and $80,000. If the spot breaks beneath its shelf, Pat Gamma could accelerate the fall to $75,000, where the next prominent block of interest exists.
Third, the rapid expansion of conceptual exposures associated with modest spot advances reveals that traders pay leverage rather than fully deploy fresh capital. Fourth, the growing option share of total derivatives activities suggests that sophisticated desks are braced at a wider price range for the rest of the quarter.
Finally, the growing interest in Cole, heavy-dealer gamma and still robust futures-based combination means that the key strike break can inject a burst of directional energy that brings Bitcoin closer to $100,000.
Over $94,000, lighting up clusters of $95,000 and $100,000 brings the market to just 2%, creating a reflective condition. Conversely, drift below $88,000 can cause dealers to place longer gammas against a significant putt position, which can smooth out to 70,000 seconds high, but also drain speculative momentum.
Both PATHs carry more exercise possibilities than last week. This is because Street operates a larger, more top-heavy optional book against futures bases that are not growing in tandem.
The post-bitcoin option swells to $38 billion as the crowd first appeared on Cryptoslate at a strike price of $100,000.
