Bitcoin Options Traders Load up on $120K Strike Through December 2026

CME‘s bitcoin choices open curiosity, measured in greenback phrases, has dropped from a peak close to $290 million in late November to roughly $30 million to $40 million by mid June, in response to Cryptoquant knowledge. Put open curiosity nonetheless outweighs calls on most buying and selling days, a sample that has held since July 2025.

When CME’s choices guide is damaged down by expiration, most contracts cluster within the one to two-month window. Longer dated positions, these expiring 4 months or extra out, have thinned significantly because the fall, leaving merchants concentrated in close to time period bets moderately than spreading danger additional into 2026 and past.

Futures Open Curiosity Tells a Completely different Story

Bitcoin futures open interest throughout exchanges paints a broader image. Binance leads all venues with 131.97K BTC in open curiosity, value $8.42 billion, good for an 18.22% share of the market, per Coinglass knowledge. CME ranks second among the many listed venues at 106.03K BTC, or $6.77 billion, holding a 14.64% share with a notably excessive open curiosity to quantity ratio of 1.1547.

Gate and Bybit sit shut collectively at roughly 60K BTC every. MEXC holds 71.30K BTC. Smaller venues like Bitget, BingX, and Bitunix spherical out the rankings, with BingX posting an 18.41% drop in open curiosity over 24 hours, the steepest decline among the many main platforms tracked.

Trade-wide BTC open curiosity in greenback phrases has fallen from highs above $90 billion final October to a variety nearer to $60 billion to $70 billion now, monitoring bitcoin’s retreat from ranges above $120,000.

Calls Nonetheless Outnumber Places on Deribit

On Deribit, the most important crypto choices trade, calls outweigh puts in complete open curiosity, 303,642.92 BTC versus 215,446.49 BTC, a 58.50% to 41.50% break up favoring upside bets. The image flips in 24-hour quantity, the place places edge out calls, 11,148.96 BTC to 10,504.94 BTC, suggesting short-term hedging exercise whilst longer-dated positioning leans bullish.

Essentially the most energetic strikes on Deribit embody the Dec. 25, 2026 $120,000 name, holding 7,526.9 BTC in open curiosity, and the July 31, 2026 $80,000 name at 7,118.9 BTC. Traders are additionally constructing positions on the draw back, with the Dec. 25, 2026 $60,000 put carrying 6,224.1 BTC.

Max Ache Ranges Diverge by Trade

Max ache, the strike value the place the most important variety of choices contracts expire nugatory, varies by venue however follows an identical arc. On Deribit, close to time period max ache sits round $63,000 for this week’s expiry, climbing towards $75,000 for contracts expiring in September and December 2026 earlier than easing towards $72,000 by March 2027.

Binance exhibits a comparable sample, with max ache close to $66,700 for the closest expiry and a climb to $75,000 by the September and December 2026 dates, then a pullback to roughly $56,600 by late March 2027. OKX traces practically equivalent territory, with max ache rising from about $69,000 to $72,000 by September and persevering with upward towards $75,000 within the knowledge’s furthest seen level.

What This Means for Traders

The hole between close to time period and longer-dated max ache ranges alerts that choices writers anticipate bitcoin to commerce increased over the subsequent six to 9 months, whilst present open curiosity on regulated venues like CME has contracted sharply from final yr’s highs.

Complete bitcoin choices open curiosity throughout all exchanges has fallen to roughly $35 billion, down from a peak above $65 billion in October, in response to Coinglass figures. That decline tracks bitcoin’s broader value retreat from six figures, however the focus of name open curiosity at strikes nicely above the present spot value suggests merchants are positioning for a restoration moderately than abandoning the market altogether.

For now, the choices market is smaller than it was at bitcoin’s peak, however the strikes merchants are selecting level towards expectations of upper costs later in 2026.