Bitcoin (BTC) Price Leads Crypto Market as ETF Options Traders Go Degen

Bitcoin (BTC) is eyeing record highs once again heading into Wednesday’s U.S. session. The largest crypto is trading just below $94,000, the new record from Tuesday, and leading the broader market with a 2% climb over the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, the broad-market CoinDesk 20 Index was little changed and large-cap altcoins ether (ETH) and solana (SOL) fell. Options on BlackRock’s spot bitcoin ETF (IBIT) saw staggering first-day trading activity yesterday, pushing the BTC price higher, analysts noted. Most of the activity focused on calls, representing a bullish view, with some traders betting on a doubling of IBIT’s share price. “It’s pretty interesting to see ‘professionals’ degen into $100 strikes (this effectively means a doubling of BTC prices given IBIT trades near $50),” crypto quant researcher Samneet Chepal noted. Options on other BTC ETFs will follow in the coming days, fueling more activity. It’s not only bitcoin where the crypto action is concentrated, though. Trading volumes for popular altcoins dogecoin (DOGE) and XRP (XRP) surpassed BTC’s on South Korean crypto exchanges Upbit and Bithumb.