In around half-an-hour’s time [i.e. at 8:00 AM UTC on Friday] Bitcoin worth approximately $621.687 million is set to expire. Traders seem to be divided at the moment, with nearly equal bets placed on both the sides of the spectrum.
The call OI at press time for November 18’s expiry stood at 18,164.72 BTC. The put OI, on the other hand, stood at 18,884.6 BTC. Resultantly, the call/put ratio stood at the brink of 1 [at 0.96, to be precise].
As illustrated below, most bearish bets have been placed at lower strike prices, while bullish bets have been placed towards upside targets. Nevertheless, the $18k psychological level seemed to be the most attractive one to traders. At the said price, bullish bets for an aggregate of 2.03k BTC were made. Sell-side bets, at the same level, stood slightly lower, around 1.9k BTC.
Bitcoin Price
At press time, bears seemed to be in control of the market. BTC registered a streak of back-to-back red candles on its hourly. From a price north of $17k. BTC was down to around $16,780 at press time. Alongside, the RSI indicator reading was also on the fall, highlighting that bulls were losing their say.
BTC’s 100 EMA [green] exactly stands at $16750 and has the potential to act like a support over the next few minutes.
Around the current price, the number of bets seemed to be limited. At $16,750 the call OI stood at merely 168.34 BTC, while the put OI stood at an even contracted 32.04 BTC. At the strike price of $16,500, on the other hand, call OI stood at 788.45. BTC, while put OI stood at 822.28 BTC.
So, at the time of expiry, if BTC manages to stay around the former level, then a slight uptick can be expected, for calls have an upper hand. However, if the largest crypto slips down to the latter level, the expiry might turn out to be a non-event, for the number of bullish-bearish bets placed are almost at par.
Nevertheless, if bearish momentum persists and if Bitcoin dumpings accelerate, then the asset might fall down to its 55 EMA [yellow] or even lower. In the said region, puts clearly dominate, so a downward deviation in price can be anticipated.
Also Read: Is it ‘game over’ for Bitcoin?