Options Market Heats Up with $140K BTC and $4K ETH as Top Institutional Picks

Options Market Signals Strong Bullish Bets on Bitcoin and Ethereum

As Bitcoin and Ethereum extend their gains into the second half of 2025, derivatives traders are placing increasingly aggressive bets on higher prices.

Bitcoin (BTC) has climbed 29% year-to-date, with ether (ETH) up 9%, fueled by a favorable macro backdrop and institutional tailwinds. Data from Deribit shows traders are heavily concentrated at the $140,000 BTC call strike, where notional open interest now totals $2.36 billion — making it the platform’s most crowded trade. Additional demand clusters at the $120,000 and $130,000 levels.

By contrast, the top bearish hedge — the $100,000 put — holds only half as much exposure, highlighting the clear bullish tilt among market participants.

The trend is mirrored in Ethereum’s options markets. The $4,000 ETH call is the largest single open interest strike with $650.8 million, followed by $280 million in notional value at the $6,000 call, according to Amberdata. On Derive, 25% of ETH options volume in the past day was focused on calls between $3,000–$4,000 expiring July 25. Around 8% of total open interest for that expiry is concentrated in the $4,000 strike.

“This level of call-heavy flow reflects mounting confidence in a fast ETH breakout,” said Dr. Sean Dawson, head of research at Derive. “Traders are clearly building for upside leverage.”

Much of the renewed bullishness in ETH is tied to recent regulatory clarity following the passage of the GENIUS Act, a wide-reaching crypto policy framework that provides new guidance on stablecoins and yield-bearing assets. Market participants expect the new regime to benefit Ethereum’s native staking ecosystem.

“We expect two major shifts post-GENIUS,” said Republic Technologies CEO Daniel Liu. “First, treasurers chasing crypto-native yield will move toward ETH staking and restaking vaults. Second, yield-bearing assets will emerge as defined, auditable financial primitives — separate from traditional stablecoins and no longer in regulatory limbo.”

These structural tailwinds are expected to boost Ethereum transaction activity and long-term value capture, reinforcing ETH’s positioning as a core institutional asset.

With BTC options clustered at aggressive upside strikes and ETH calls signaling breakout conviction, the market appears increasingly aligned on further gains across major crypto assets in Q3.