Bitcoin (BTC) Options Open Interest Falls 6.08% to $40.2B as Calls Dominate

Options Open Interest Falls 6%

Bitcoin (BTC) options positioning contracted on Friday even as upside bets stayed concentrated in high-strike calls, according to aggregate derivatives data. Open interest across Bitcoin options stood at roughly $40.17 billion as of 09:40 Seoul time, down 6.08% from the prior session's $42.77 billion, while 24-hour turnover ran near $5.37 billion. The longer-dated book leans bullish: calls make up 61.21% of outstanding contracts against 38.79% for puts, though near-term flow was nearly split at 50.33% calls versus 49.67% puts — a picture of traders adding upside exposure while still paying for protection. The heaviest open-interest clusters sit in the $70,000, $85,000 and $90,000 calls expiring September 25 on Deribit, one of the venues featured in our best crypto exchanges guide. By traded volume, the $82,000 calls dated September 25 and September 11 led, followed by $86,000 calls. Shrinking total positions alongside call-heavy flow reads as selective upside betting rather than broad conviction, with hedging demand still visible across the Bitcoin market coverage we track.

Strategy Defends Its Index Seat

Corporate treasury demand remains the other pillar of the tape. Strategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, pushed back publicly against MSCI's proposed eligibility test that would remove “non-operating companies” from global investable indices, arguing that funds tracking the index hold only about 3.1% of its basic float — so the direct impact of exclusion would be limited — and that the “operating company” label has no definition under US GAAP or IFRS. MSCI's consultation closes September 30, with results due October 16 and any changes effective December 1. Separately, CEO Phong Le told Bloomberg TV that selling roughly 7,000 BTC near $60,000-$65,000 to fund preferred dividends and re-buying near $80,000 are consistent under a cost-of-capital framework: the company has cut net debt from about $7 billion to zero, built a roughly $7 billion dollar reserve, and funds purchases through premium MSTR issuance — a playbook closer to a strategic Bitcoin reserve than a passive HODL. In Washington, SEC Chair Paul Atkins urged Congress in a public post to send the CLARITY Act to President Trump before a September 15 Senate procedural vote requiring 60 votes, with Bitcoin oversight at stake at the CFTC.

CLARITY Acthttps://x.com/SECPaulSAtkins/status/2095234145626488912?s=20

Bank of Korea Rate Path

Monetary policy adds a macro overhang for one of the world's denser retail markets. An iM Securities research note argues the Bank of Korea will likely hold its base rate at the October 22 meeting, then deliver another hike to 3.25% on November 26, with room to reach 3.50% in the first half of next year if financial imbalances persist. The central bank already raised rates in July and August, and August consumer inflation ran 3.1% year over year — with underlying price growth estimated near 2.5%, still above the 2% target. Zero-yield assets such as Bitcoin face stiffer competition from cash and bonds when rates stay elevated; for readers sizing that risk, our What is Bitcoin (BTC) guide covers the asset's yield-free mechanics. Rate paths do not set coin prices directly, but they shape won liquidity and risk appetite, as we noted in BTC holding near $80K after the August jobs report.

No Confirmed Altseason Yet

Rotation into alternative tokens remains unconfirmed despite pockets of strength. A CoinMarketCap snapshot put Bitcoin dominance at 59.7%, with CoinGecko's screen showing 57.7% — far from levels that typically accompany a broad rotation, since the standard altseason threshold requires 75 of the top 100 coins to outperform Bitcoin over 90 days, a condition not currently met. Recent movers each ran on idiosyncratic catalysts rather than a shared liquidity wave: BNB Chain launched a 200,000 USDT meme-trading rewards campaign across Flap and Four.meme; Uniswap's v2, v3, v4 and UniswapX serve as the primary automated market makers on Robinhood Chain; and Chainlink was adopted by the same layer 2 for official data feeds and cross-chain oracles. Treating these names as one altseason trade conflates separate stories — exactly the conflation our altcoin hub flags. Until dominance rolls over, single-token catalysts, not a market-wide rotation, remain the working assumption. Readers tracking the market in real time can follow live spot and futures prices on Bitget.

$79.5K Support Is the Line

Strategy returned to accumulation for the first time in more than two months, buying 4,603 BTC for $369.7 million between Aug. 24 and Aug. 30 at an average of $80,318 per coin, funded through MSTR share sales. Total holdings now stand at 845,050 BTC acquired for roughly $63.73 billion at an average cost of $75,412. The purchase lands as U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs took in $730.8 million on Sept. 3 — their strongest daily inflow since January — briefly pushing BTC above $82,000 before stronger-than-expected employment data lifted Treasury yields and sent the price back to the $79,000 range, reinforcing the institutional bid beneath recent consolidation.

Japan's sovereign debt market added a fresh wrinkle to the funding math for corporate Bitcoin treasuries. A 30-year Japanese government bond auction on Sept. 3 cleared at an average yield of 4.079%, up 14.2 basis points from 3.937% at the previous sale on Aug. 6, with the bid-to-cover ratio slipping to 3.79x from 3.86x and the tail widening to 0.28 from 0.21. The rise in the ultra-long end is being read as a headwind for future fundraising by Japan-listed Bitcoin buyer Metaplanet, though its already-issued bonds are unaffected for now. Separately, the IMF said it reached a staff-level agreement on the combined second and third reviews of El Salvador's lending program, confirming in submitted documents that the roughly 1,540 BTC accumulated since the last review came from private donations rather than public funds, with about $140 million in disbursements set to follow board approval.

(as of 08:07 UTC) COINOTAG's proprietary 42-indicator composite S/R scoring engine frames the immediate battleground. Spot trades at $79,849.99, up 0.25% over 24 hours, with the $79,824.58 support our engine rates at 90/100 — a STRONG confluence of a flip from resistance to support, the Fibonacci 0.114, S1 and the Ichimoku Tenkan — as the nearest floor. Resistance begins at $83,390.91, scored 80/100 via ATR Upper, the Fibonacci 0.000, Donchian Upper and Swing High, with the $79,916.17 pivot (57/100) sitting just above spot. Positioning leans slightly long: funding sits at 0.0021%, open interest stands at $15.65 billion, and the long/short account ratio reads 1.14 (53.2% long / 46.8% short). With RSI at 66.84, a bearish MACD signal and the Fear & Greed Index at 73 (Greed), the engine tags the trend as sideways — holding above $79,824.58 keeps the $79,916.17 reclaim and a push toward $83,390.91 in play; losing it opens a slide toward $77,586.32 (71/100), which would invalidate the near-term setup.