U.S. Elections-Linked Bitcoin Options Draw Nearly $350M in Open Interest

• Traders have locked in $345 million in bitcoin options expiring four days after the Nov. 4 elections.
• Distribution of open interest shows bullish sentiment, according to Wintermute.

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.