Bitcoin Traders Seek Topside Option Plays After Powell's Transitory Inflation Remark, Ether Still Lags in Sentiment


What to know:

  • Bitcoin's options market shows renewed bullishness following the Federal Reserve meeting, indicating investor interest in topside bets.
  • The Fed retained forecast for two rate cuts Wednesday, with Powell calling the inflationary impact of Trump's tariffs transitory.
  • Despite positive developments, ether options remain cautious, retaining the pre-Fed sentiment even with the upcoming Ethereum Pectra upgrade.

Bitcoin (BTC) punters are looking at topside options bets in a bullish shift in price expectations after the Federal Reserve's (Fed) meeting, but ether (ETH) continues to lag sentiment.

As of writing, BTC's short-term and long-term risk reversals, which show the implied volatility premium (demand) for bullish bets or calls versus puts, were positive, implying investor interest in chasing price gains in the leading cryptocurrency, per data source Amberdata.

It marks a shift from the bearish sentiment that prevailed weeks before the Fed meeting when short and near-dated puts were pricier than calls, reflecting downside fears.

"Frontend skew flipped calls. Flows featured 21 Mar outright calls and calendars bought, while 28 Mar puts were sold," institution-focused over-the-counter tech platform Paradigm noted in the Telegram chat. Institutions and large traders execute block trades via OTC platforms like Paradigm, which are then listed on Deribit.

Options are derivative contracts that give the purchaser the right but not the obligation to purchase or sell the underlying asset at a predetermined price at a later date. A call option gives the right to buy, and a put option gives the right to sell.

BTC's risk reversals. (Amberdata/Deribit)


The bullish shift in the short and near-dated options happened as the Federal Reserve (Fed) retained the forecast for two rate cuts this year despite making the expected stagflationary adjustment in economic forecasts. The bank said it will slow the pace of balance sheet run off from April.

More importantly, Chairman Jerome Powell downplayed fears about the inflationary impact of Trump's tariffs, calling it transitory.

Additionally, the end of the prolonged legal tussle between the SEC and Ripple, which uses XRP for cross border transactions, likely aided the sentiment. XRP, with the market cap of $142.21 billion, is the world's fourth largest cryptocurrency.