CME Bitcoin (BTC) Options Show Most Bullish Sentiment Since Trump Election Victory, ETF Inflows Surge
On Tuesday, bitcoin (BTC) options trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) showed the strongest bullish sentiment since the election victory in Nov. 5 by Donald Trump.
Traders scrambled to buy calls, or options that offer asymmetric upside exposure, sending the skew higher than 4.4%, the most since early November, according to data tracked by digital assets index provider CF Benchmarks.
Skew is the difference in implied volatility between calls and puts, or options that offer downside protection, and positive values represent a bullish sentiment.
“Thirty-day topside skew in the bitcoin options market has reached levels not seen since the November election results,” Thomas Erdösi, head of product at CF Benchmarks, told CoinDesk. “This reflects a strong bullish sentiment, with traders actively positioning for upside exposure in both short- and long-term maturities.”
Bitcoin price rose as much as 5%, briefly topping $106,000 Tuesday after buyers defended the $100,000 support level despite President Trump not mentioning the crypto or strategic bitcoin reserve in his inaugural speech the previous day.
The bounce was accompanied by renewed uptake for US-listed spot ETFs, which registered a cumulative net inflow of $802 million, according to data from SoSoValue. BlackRock’s IBIT earned just $661.8 million, helping to solidify bullish sentiment.
“ETF inflows continued their impressive accumulation, marking four consecutive days of significant inflows, amounting to more than $3 billion for Bitcoin alone. Bitcoin ($802M) and Ethereum ($74M) is receiving strong institutional support, which could propel the digital asset to new highs,” Valentin Fournier, an analyst at BRN, said in an email to CoinDesk.
Additionally, long-term holders — wallets with a history of holding coins for more than 155 days — are reducing their profit-taking activities, according to blockchain data tracking firm Glassnode.
“Looking ahead, volatility levels are likely to moderate slightly towards the end of the month, but we expect the skew to the topside is likely to remain, barring any surprise policy developments. This is likely to provide of continued increasing price pressure for the foreseeable future,” said Erdösi.
