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Bitcoin (BTC) Options Open Interest Rises 0.68% to $51.74 Billion on Call-Led Positioning

Bitcoin (BTC) options open interest rose 0.68% to $51.74 billion with calls at 59.28% of positioning, as rising US bond yields test the 365-day reclaim.

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September 25, 2026, 12:49 AM UTC5 min readUpdated
AI SummaryAI
  • Bitcoin (BTC) options open interest rose 0.68% to $51.74 billion, with calls at 59.28%.
  • Deribit's $95,000, $90,000 and $100,000 calls expiring October 30 carry the largest open interest.
  • About $112.78 million in Bitcoin positions were liquidated in 24 hours, 73.4% of them longs.
  • The US 10-year Treasury yield rose 8 basis points to 5.20%; the 30-year hit 2004 highs.
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Call Skew Builds Across the $51.74B Options Book

Bitcoin (BTC) options open interest climbed 0.68% over the latest 24-hour window to $51.74 billion, according to aggregated derivatives data, and the composition of that book is the real story: calls — contracts that pay out when price rises — now account for 59.28% of outstanding positions against 40.72% for puts. The prior reading was $51.40 billion, meaning roughly $349 million of fresh option exposure entered the market even as spot consolidated in the mid-$84,000s. Traders turned over about $8.26 billion in options volume during the same window, and near-term flow mirrors the medium-term skew, with calls taking 59.15% of 24-hour turnover.

Open interest — the cumulative total of contracts still standing in the market — is read as a gauge of conviction rather than churn: growth signals fresh capital building positions, and growth concentrated in calls signals desks paying up for upside exposure. Where that exposure sits matters too. The heaviest open-interest concentrations are upside strikes expiring October 30 on Deribit: the $95,000 call leads, followed by the $90,000 and $100,000 calls — all above current spot, consistent with medium-term bets on a further leg higher. In 24-hour volume, the $70,000 strike traded most actively across both the September 25 and October 30 expiries, with the $90,000 call third. For readers mapping the Bitcoin market cycle, the takeaway is that both the strategic book and the tactical tape lean bullish; our complete Bitcoin guide explains how derivative positioning feeds back into spot. One caveat belongs on the other side of the ledger: dense call open interest above spot can act as friction if sellers hedge those strikes, so the skew confirms appetite without guaranteeing follow-through.

Bond Yields Test the 365-Day Reclaim

Macro, not crypto-native flows, set the session's ceiling. The 10-year US Treasury yield rose 8 basis points to 5.20%, the 30-year climbed to its highest level since 2004, and a global bond index crossed 4% for the first time since 2007 — a broad rates repricing that weighs on every risk asset. Energy kept the pressure on: Brent crude closed at $106.60 a barrel, feeding inflation expectations, and markets now price three additional 25-basis-point Federal Reserve hikes over the coming year. Philadelphia Fed President Anna Paulson said further increases may be needed to return inflation to target, and New York Fed President John Williams echoed that the work on prices remains unfinished.

That backdrop did the damage on leverage. About $112.78 million in Bitcoin (BTC) positions were liquidated over 24 hours — 73.4% of them longs — while the wider altcoin market absorbed roughly $340.15 million of forced closures. The structural picture, though, improved this week: Bitcoin crossed back above its 365-day simple moving average near $80,900 on September 22, its first reclaim in 310 days — the kind of regime signal bulls tie to the post-halving cycle. Research firm AltcoinPro finds that in all five prior instances where price spent 90 or more days under the 365-day line before reclaiming it, BTC traded higher 12 months later; shorter stays below the line in July 2018 and March 2022, by contrast, preceded declines of about 27% and 59% within 90 days. Co-founder Ryan Hossler called September's move particularly positive given the 310-day stretch but cautioned that holding the level must be confirmed: it is “a signal, not a guarantee.” He flags the 200-day average near $70,800 — which spot exceeds by roughly 19% after 293 days below — as the line that matters. That regime argument anchors the proof-of-work asset's long-term HODL case — the one Robert Kiyosaki has pressed since 2012 — and helps explain why early-week headlines pairing a White House memo with Bitcoin holding $84,400 drew buyers rather than panic. Readers tracking the market in real time can follow live spot and futures prices on MEXC.

$82,839 Support Decides the Tape

(as of 05:00 UTC) COINOTAG's proprietary 42-indicator composite S/R scoring engine puts a number on the battleground: the nearest support at $84,021.79 rates a strong 60/100, driven by confluence from Fibonacci 0.114, a MACD cross and a flip from resistance to support, with the strongest floor at $81,082.75 scoring 79/100 (STRONG) from the Bollinger Band Middle, SMA 20, the Ichimoku Kijun and Fibonacci 0.214, the next shelf at $77,064.96 a strong 71/100 from SMA 50, Fibonacci 0.382, the Keltner Lower band and a resistance-to-support flip, and deeper cushions at $70,843.66 (55/100) from Fibonacci 0.618, VWAP, the EMA 200 and SMA 200 and at $61,056.47 (50/100) from Fibonacci 0.886 and the POC. Overhead, the strongest print on the board sits at $87,329.71 (84/100) from the Bollinger Upper band, R3, Fibonacci 0.000 and the Donchian Upper band, with a thinner barrier at $85,702.90 (41/100) from R2, the ATR Upper band and the Keltner Upper band, followed by Fibonacci 1.272 at $94,549.91 (45/100), Fibonacci 1.414 at $98,288.76 (41/100) and the pivot point at $84,075.87 (38/100). Spot trades at $83,987.37, lower by 0.26% over 24 hours, with a market cap of $1.69 trillion and 24-hour volume of $16.71 billion; RSI reads 64.04 with a bullish MACD and an uptrend reading. Positioning leans constructive: funding has ticked positive at 0.0005%, open interest stands at $16.01 billion and the long/short account ratio is 1.41 (58.5% long), against a Fear & Greed Index of 74 (Greed) and Bitcoin (BTC) holding 67.3% of COINOTAG's tracked universe, which carries a tracked market cap of $2.51 trillion. The bullish scenario holds while the $84,021.79 and $81,082.75 supports stand, but both the $85,702.90 and $87,329.71 ceilings — the latter the board's strongest level — must give way to open a run at $94,549.91 and ultimately $98,288.76; a daily close below $84,021.79 weakens the setup and reopens $77,064.96 and $70,843.66.

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