Bitcoin bulls aim for a post-FOMC win in Friday’s $640M BTC options expiry
The past few months have been painful for Bitcoin (BTC) bulls, but they are not alone. The United States Federal Reserve’s tightening economy policy has led investors to seek protection in cash positions and inflation-protected bonds.
Surging inflation and recession signals have caused the S&P 500 stock market index to retreat 19% year-to-date. Even gold — previously considered a safe asset — is suffering the consequences, trading down 20% from its all-time high.
The increasing costs of a home mortgage added fear that a housing crisis might be underway. Since the FED started raising interest rates in March, borrowing costs have gone up and up, and mortgage rates have reached multi-decade highs.
Regardless of the prevailing bearish sentiment, Bitcoin bulls could still profit by $270 million on Friday's options expiry.
According to the Nov. 4 options expiry open interest, Bitcoin bears concentrated their bets between $16,000 and $20,000. These levels might seem gloomy right now, but Bitcoin was trading below $19,500 two weeks ago.
At first sight, the $335-million put (sell) options dominate the $305-million call (buy) instruments, but the 0.92 call-to-put ratio does not really tell the whole story. For example, the 7.5% BTC price pump since Oct. 21 wiped out most bearish bets.
A put option gives the buyer a right to sell BTC at a fixed price at 8:00 am UTC on Nov. 4. However, if the market trades above that price, there is no value in holding that derivative contract, so its value goes to zero.
Therefore, if Bitcoin remains above $20,000 at 8:00 am UTC on Nov. 4, only $30 million of those put (sell) options will be available at the expiry.
Here are the four most likely scenarios for Friday's options expiry. The imbalance
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