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Would you offer insurance when expecting low odds of a claim being made? Most likely, you would, while pocketing the premium without a second thought. Bitcoin (BTC) traders are doing something similar in the Deribit-listed BTC options market, hinting at bullish price expectations.
Recently, an increasing number of traders have been selling (writing) BTC put options, likened to providing insurance against price drops in exchange for a small upfront premium.
They are implementing this strategy in a cash-secured manner by holding a corresponding amount in stablecoins, ensuring they can buy BTC if the market declines and the put buyer decides to exercise his right to sell BTC at the predetermined higher price.
This strategy enables traders to collect premiums (paid by put buyers) while potentially accumulating bitcoin if the options are exercised. In other words, it's the expression of a long-term bullish sentiment.
"There is a notable increase in cash-secured put selling using stablecoins—another sign of a more mature, long-term approach to BTC accumulation and a continued expression of bullish sentiment," Deribit's Asia Business Development Head Lin Chen told CoinDesk.
Chen said BTC holders are also selling higher strike call options to collect premiums and generate additional yield on top of their coin stash, which is weighing over Deribit's DVOL index, which measures the 30-day BTC implied volatility. The index has dropped from 63 to 48 since the April 7 panic selling in BTC to $75K, according to data from the charting platform TradingView.
"We observe that investors remain long-term bullish on BTC, particularly among crypto-native “holders” who are willing to hold through market cycles," Chen said.
Bitcoin's price has risen to over $92,000 since the early month slide to $75,000, supposedly on the back of haven demand and renewed institutional adoption narrative.
The sharp price recovery has seen BTC options risk reversals reset to suggest a bias for call options across time frames, according to data source Amberdata. Over the past two days, traders have specifically snapped up calls at strike $95,000, $100,000 and $135,000 via the over-the-counter tech platform Paradigm. As of writing, the $100,000 strike call was the most popular option play on Deribit, with a notional open interest of over $1.6 billion.
$9 billion in delta
Just how important it is to track flows in the options market can be explained by the fact that the cumulative delta in Deribit's BTC options and options tied to the U.S.-listed BlackRock spot bitcoin ETF (IBIT) and its peers was $9 billion as of Wednesday, according to data tracked by Volmex.
The data indicates heightened sensitivity of options to changes in BTC's price, suggesting potential for price volatility.
Delta, one of the metrics used by sophisticated market participants to manage risk, measures how much the price (premium) of an options contract is likely to change in response to the $1 chance in the price of the underlying asset, in this case, BTC.
So, the cumulative delta of $9 billion represents the total sensitivity of all outstanding BTC and bitcoin ETF options to changes in the spot price. As of Wednesday, the total notional value of all outstanding options contracts was $43 billion.
Such large data or sensitivity to price swings in the underlying asset means market makers and traders actively engage in hedging strategies to mitigate their risks. Market makers, or those mandated to provide order book liquidity, are known to add to price volatility through their constant effort to maintain a net directional neutral exposure.
"Option deltas have increased to record levels as open interest grew and strike deltas shifted significantly. Option market makers are actively hedging this delta exposure, driven by substantial new positions and notable shifts in strike pricing," Volmex noted on X.
According to Volmex, crypto-native options traders over Deribit are positioned more bullishly than those trading options tied to IBIT.
For every 1 bitcoin (BTC) sold by short-term holders, long-term holders (LTHs) have accumulated 1.38 BTC in a clear sign of their commitment as the largest cryptocurrency continues to recover.
Since bottoming out in January, LTHs have amassed 635,340 BTC, bringing their total holdings to 13,755,722 BTC, according to Glassnode data. Defined as those who have held bitcoin for at least 155 days, this cohort tends to accumulate during periods of market weakness and sell into strength.
In contrast, short-term holders (STHs) — those who acquired BTC within the last 155 days — have distributed 460,896 BTC, often through profit-taking or selling at a loss. Their holdings now sit at 3,516,265 BTC.
The 155-day threshold dates back to around Nov. 20, a period when bitcoin’s price climbed to $95,000 from $65,000 . Many of the investors who bought during that surge have now transitioned into long-term status, reinforcing the strength of conviction behind that move. Despite a 30% drawdown from bitcoin’s all-time high of $109,000 reached in January, LTHs on average have continued to hold.
Although bitcoin has rebounded above $90,000 after holding below that level since early March, a substantial number of coins remain underwater. Some 2.6 million BTC sit at a loss, about half the over 5 million BTC peak from earlier this month, but still indicative of heavy unrealized losses. Many of these coins were purchased during the euphoric run-up past $100,000.
Dubai’s crypto regulator has issued an alert, warning of firms falsely claiming to be part of the city’s high-profile real estate tokenization pilot, saying that such misrepresentation may violate the emirate’s virtual asset laws.
The Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), in coordination with the Dubai Land Department (DLD), said on Tuesday that several entities have improperly suggested they are participating in the DLD’s blockchain-based property title deed initiative, which launched as a limited pilot on March 19.
“No entities beyond those explicitly approved by DLD and VARA are authorised to participate,” the regulator said. “Any entity promoting their involvement in the project without formal confirmation… is misrepresenting their status.”
VARA did not name any firms in the release.
The tokenization initiative could account for 7% of all property deals, valued at 60 billion dirhams ($16 billion), by 2033, CoinDesk previously reported, as part of the city’s broader push to position itself as a global tech and digital asset hub.
This warning from VARA comes days before Token 2049 kicks off in the city. Earlier in March, on-chain investigator ZachXBT pointed out that the conference tends to attract a disproportionate amount of scams.
Metaplanet (3350) has reached a major milestone in its bitcoin (BTC) strategy, the Japanese hotel company now holds 5,000 BTC as part of its treasury operations.
Its BTC stash is valued at approximately $428.1 million at an average acquisition cost of around $85,621 per coin.
The Tokyo-listed firm continues to double down on bitcoin as a reserve asset, with its latest purchase of 145 BTC made at an average price of approximately $93,327 per coin, totaling roughly $13.6 million.
The accumulation strategy has achieved a year-to-date (YTD) BTC Yield of 121.1% in 2025. This yield metric reflects the company’s effective increase in bitcoin per share held.
Notably, BTC Yield is a proprietary KPI Metaplanet uses to track treasury performance. It isolates gains driven purely by bitcoin acquisition strategies while neutralizing dilution from newly issued shares. In Q1 2025 alone, the company saw a yield of 95.6%.
Shares of Metaplanet were trading 5% lower at the time of writing.
Disclaimer: This article, or parts of it, was generated with assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.
Major tokens fell as much as 5% on Thursday as traders took profits on a steady move higher from earlier this week, with memecoin dogecoin (DOGE) leading losses among the largest assets.
Bitcoin (BTC) clung to the $93,000 zone in the past 24 hours, but XRP, Solana’s SOL, BNB Chain’s BNB and DOGE showed losses above 2%. Ether (ETH) fared relatively better with a 1.5% slump.
Overall market cap decreased 2.5%. The broad-based CoinDesk 20, a liquid index tracking the largest tokens by market cap, fell over 3%.
Spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the U.S. bagged over $916 million in inflows on Wednesday. Some traders point to the asset’s growing safe haven as a catalyst underpinning this surge in flows.
“The inflows are driven by a declining U.S. dollar index, and Bitcoin’s growing safe-haven appeal amid equity market volatility,” Vugar Usi Zade, COO at Bitget, told CoinDesk in an email. “The massive ETF inflows reflect Bitcoin’s strengthening position as a leading crypto asset, with growing institutional adoption.
“Its reduced correlation with equities and safe-haven narrative position it as a diversification tool, though short-term challenges like weak investment signals require sustained macro catalysts,”
Bitcoin’s safe-haven narrative has been growing in the past week on its relevant resilience, mirroring gold’s price rise, even as bond yields and U.S. equities corrected amid the ongoing tariff wars.
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump said he had no intention to fire Federal Reserve Chair Powell and that a deal with China (which is facing tariffs as high as 245% on some items) would significantly reduce some of its levies.
The mixed signals and frequent tone shift are jading traders, however, who continue to monitor comments for further cues on positioning.
“Macro risks remain, but one critical overhang appears to be cleared. Trump is signaling no intention to replace Fed Chair Powell for now. The reassurance has prompted a modest pullback in long-end yields, helping reduce a key tail risk,” Singapore-based QCP Capital said in a broadcast message Thursday.
“The broader outlook, however, is anything but simple. Trade frictions, geopolitical jitters, and regulatory opacity continue to cast long shadows,” the firm added.