Bitcoin (BTC) investors seem uncomfortable with adding positions after the most recent 40% correction from the $69,000 all-time high made on Nov. 10. In addition to the prolonged downtrend, remarks from the United States Federal Reserve on Dec. 15 about rising interest rates are also weighing on risk-on assets.

The Fed signaled that it could raise its benchmark rate three times this year and there are plans to increase the pace of its asset purchasing taper.

Consequently, traders are worried that these plans will negatively impact traditional and crypto markets because liquidity will no longer be "easily" available.

Cryptoasset regulation in the U.S. has recently been in the spotlight and recently a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Investor Advisory Committee called for the agency to open public comments regarding digital asset regulation.

On Jan. 18, associate law professor J.W. Verret addressed the petition to SEC Secretary Vanessa Countryman and according to Verret, the current path the SEC is taking seems not to recognize that digital assets do not fit within the regulatory framework designed for equity investments.

The professor also questioned what requirements the SEC would consider in approving a Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund.

Even though Bitcoin is said to be correlated to traditional markets, BTC derivatives traders were not expecting sub-$44,000 prices according to the Jan. 21 options expiry. Friday’s $590 million open interest will allow bears to score up to $82 million if BTC trades below $41,000 during the expiry.

At first sight, the $380 million call (buy) options vastly surpass the $210 million put (sell) instruments, but the 1.81 call-to-put ratio is deceptive because the recent price