Bitcoin (BTC) Traders Target $20K BTC Strike as Deep Out of the Money Options Gain Traction

Traders are showing significant interest in deep out-of-the-money (OTM) Bitcoin put options, particularly the $20,000 strike for the June 2026 expiry on Deribit, which has over $191 million in open interest. While OTM puts traditionally suggest bearish sentiment, experts like Deribit's Global Head of Retail, Sidrah Fariq, interpret this activity, combined with interest in high-strike calls (like $230,000), as a low-cost strategy to profit from long-dated volatility explosions, essentially buying cheap lottery tickets for extreme price swings in either direction.

These far out-of-the-money trades are viewed by professionals as volatility positioning rather than directional bets, as they are too distant from the current spot price (near $90,500) to serve as effective hedges. Holding both OTM calls and puts allows for asymmetric payoffs if extreme volatility occurs, though the options rapidly lose value if the market remains flat.

Despite this specific volatility positioning, the broader crypto options market mood appears bearish, as BTC puts generally trade at a premium to calls across various tenors, partly due to strategies like call overwriting.

(Source：CoinDesk)