Derive options traders pile into Bitcoin calls ahead of US midterm elections

Bitcoin traders looking for a pulse in the market may want to check the options desk at Derive. The decentralized platform, formerly known as Lyra, is seeing a wave of call buying aimed at strikes between $80,000 and $90,000. Traders appear to be positioning for a possible move higher around the US midterm elections in early November. There’s a second layer too. Bets implying Bitcoin will top $100,000 by Christmas have also been on the rise. What traders are buying The core of the activity is call options. A call gives its buyer the right, though not the obligation, to buy an asset at a set price, called the strike, by a set date. If Bitcoin climbs past the strike, the call gains value. If it doesn’t, the buyer loses the premium paid upfront. On Derive, recent analyses show calls bunching up at the $80,000 to $90,000 range. That clustering signals that a meaningful slice of traders expects, or at least hopes for, upside tied to the election calendar. The flow has also included spikes in large multi-leg trades. These are strategies that combine several options at once, often to shape a specific payoff or limit risk. How Derive got here Derive has quietly become the dominant name in ...