Bitcoin Options Show Bullish Bias as Call Open Interest Dominates

Bitcoin (BTC) options markets leaned bullish across both medium- and short-term horizons on Sunday, with open interest and positioning skewed toward call options—an indication that broader 'risk appetite' remains intact despite persistent volatility hedging demand.

Data compiled by Coinglass as of 12:40 a.m. ET on July 27 showed total Bitcoin options open interest (OI) at $33.57 billion, up 1.14% from $33.19 billion a day earlier. Total options trading volume over the same period was about $1.16 billion.

The composition of outstanding positions highlighted a clear tilt toward upside exposure. Call options accounted for 66.26% of total OI, compared with 33.74% for put options. In the past 24 hours, calls represented 55.58% of trading volume versus 44.42% for puts.

Market participants typically read a call-heavy OI profile as a signal that traders are building or maintaining medium-term upside bets. At the same time, the relatively high put share in daily volume suggests active 'volatility hedging' and tactical protection against near-term pullbacks—often seen when traders want to stay positioned for upside while managing downside risk around key expiries.

The largest concentrations of open interest were clustered in Deribit contracts expiring later this week and into year-end. The top OI strikes were the $72,000 call expiring July 31, followed by the $70,000 call expiring July 31, and the $80,000 call expiring Dec. 25—levels that traders often use either as directional targets or as high-liquidity hedging and structuring points.

In the past 24 hours, the most actively traded contracts were concentrated on Bybit near the mid-$60,000 range. The $65,500 call expiring July 27 ranked first by volume, followed by the $65,000 call expiring July 27. On Deribit, the $76,000 call expiring July 31 also featured among the most traded contracts.

Options are widely used to express leveraged views on price direction or to hedge existing spot and futures exposure. While rising open interest typically points to fresh positioning rather than purely intraday churn, the split between call dominance in OI and a sizable put presence in volume suggests a market that remains constructive on Bitcoin’s trajectory but is still paying for insurance against abrupt swings.

For the broader market, the continued concentration in upside strikes and the incremental rise in OI imply that traders are keeping 'bullish positioning' in place into upcoming expirations—potentially amplifying price sensitivity if spot BTC moves quickly through heavily trafficked strike levels.