Bitcoin options traders expect the price to break through $74,000 to a new high

According to market watch, there are investors who have concentrated on buying call options before the end of the month, in the expectation that the price of bitcoin will rise to between $74,000 and $80,000. The options trading platform observed a lot of buying activity in BTC call options, which settled in June. Matrixport noted that short positions in BTC are around $1.5 billion, concentrated around $72,000, which could be settled.

Bitcoin (BTC) options traders are increasingly bullish on the possibility of the asset hitting new highs this month, according to market data. In a market update on Wednesday, digital asset hedge fund QCP said: "Our trading desks are seeing strong bullish follow-through with significant June expiration call buying, indicating that the options market is betting on Bitcoin breaking through its all-time high of $74,000 this month."

An option is a derivative contract that gives the buyer the right to buy or sell an asset at a specific price before the contract expires or on a specific date. If the underlying asset does not reach the strike price, the option becomes worthless. Buying a call option means being bullish on the asset price, while buying a put option means being bearish.

Paradigm, an institutional crypto derivatives trading network, said in a Telegram broadcast: "Option traffic today was significantly bullish, with large purchases of BTC call options expiring at the end of June and smaller purchases of call options expiring at the end of July."

Joshua Lim, co-founder of Arbelos Markets, a major trading firm for crypto derivatives, noticed "very concentrated call buying" on Tuesday involving about 1,100 call options expiring on June 28 with strike prices in the $74,000 to $80,000 range. Represents a notional demand of approximately $80 million.

A call spread is an options trading strategy that involves buying a call option at a lower strike price while selling the same number of calls at a higher strike price in the hope of profiting from a limited price increase.

The Bitcoin Options heat map on Deribit shows that bitcoin has been consolidating for nearly three months since hitting an all-time high of just under $74,000 in mid-March. After briefly falling below $57,000 in early May, it has gradually recovered and is currently trading at around $71,000, just a few percentage points from its new high.

Crypto investment services firm Matrixport said in an X article on Wednesday that bitcoin "seems poised to rise again," supported by strong inflows from U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds and an increase in open interest in the futures market.