Election-Based Options Draw Nearly $350MM in Open Interest

Article by Omkar Godbole

Crypto traders speculating on how the impending U.S. elections might affect the digital assets industry have locked millions in bitcoin (BTC) options tied to the event.

The so-called election expiry options, due for settlement four days after the Nov. 4 elections, began trading on Deribit a month ago. As of writing, the notional open interest or the dollar value of the number of active options contracts was $345.83 million, according to data source Amberdata.

Call options, which offer an unlimited upside payoff potential at the expense of limited loss, accounted for 67% of the total open interest. The rest came from put options, which offer protection against price drops, amounting to a put-call ratio of less than 0.50.

In other words, twice as many calls were open as puts, reflecting bullish expectations from the outcome of the elections.

“These election-dedicated contracts allow investors to capitalize on the increased interest by speculating on how the election might affect the crypto markets in a targeted way. The current put-call ratio of 0.50 indicates a bullish sentiment, with twice as many calls traded as puts,” algorithmic trading firm Wintermute said in a note shared with CoinDesk.

The call option at the strike price of $80,000 is the most popular, boasting an open interest of over $39 million. Broadly speaking, open interest is mainly concentrated in higher strike calls, starting from $70,000 to $140,000. That’s a sign of traders positioning for new record highs around the election time.

Meanwhile, $39 million is locked in the $45,000 put option.

“The concentration of call options’ open interest at strikes around $80K and $100K suggests that market participants are positioning for potential upside in bitcoin, while the presence of puts at lower strike price of $45,000 indicates some level of hedging or downside protection,” Wintermute noted.