Bitcoin traders have built a nearly $5 billion cluster of options open interest at the $70,000 and $72,000 strikes on Deribit, where bullish calls vastly outnumber puts. Much of the buying grew out of bets that the CLARITY Act would pass this month — an expectation traders have started to unwind as the bill's odds slip.
Bitcoin traders have parked nearly $5 billion in options open interest at the $70,000 and $72,000 strikes on Deribit, and the positioning reads as a clear bullish bet. Together the two contracts make up roughly 18% of the exchange's $28 billion in total BTC options open interest, the two most popular contracts on the venue.
Calls swamp the puts
The skew toward upside bets is stark. Data from Laevitas shows the $70,000 strike holds approximately 39,000 active contracts against 3,800 puts. The $72,000 level carries roughly 37,900 calls to only 1,200 puts.
Call options give the buyer the right to purchase bitcoin at a set price by a set date, essentially a wager that the price will rise above it. Puts work the opposite way and are used to bet on or hedge against declines.
The trades behind the pile-up
Several large, deliberate trades built the concentration. Laevitas flagged a large bull call spread — buying the $70,000 call while selling the $72,000 call — a bet on a moderate climb toward $72,000. The firm said the structure accounts for approximately 49% and 50% of total call open interest at the two strikes.
Beyond the spread, another trader or group bought a large batch of $70,000 calls, paying $3.4 million in premium to gain upside exposure.
Clarity Act optimism cools
The upside bets grew out of one catalyst. Orbit Markets co-founder Jimmy Yang tied the demand to Clarity Act optimism, saying the positioning was "driven by expectations that the CLARITY Act could be passed" this month. He added that traders have dialed back those expectations over the past 24 hours, unwinding some of the bullish bets.
That caution shows up in the price. BTC traded near $65,050 on July 24, down about 2.6% from its July 21 peak. About 19,000 options worth $1.2 billion expire on July 24, with maximum pain at $64,500.
Polymarket now puts the odds of the bill being signed this year at 38%, down from 51% earlier in the week. The slide followed Senate Majority Leader John Thune's remark that he does not expect the Senate to pass the bill before the chamber adjourns for its August recess.
Sources: CoinDesk, crypto.news
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