{"id":74320,"date":"2026-06-21T00:05:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T00:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/bitcoin-options-traders-load-up-on-120k-strike-through-december-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T00:05:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T00:05:51","slug":"bitcoin-options-traders-load-up-on-120k-strike-through-december-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/bitcoin-options-traders-load-up-on-120k-strike-through-december-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin Options Traders Load up on $120K Strike Through December 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>(Originally posted on : Bitcoin News )<\/b><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"@container mb-[25px] rounded-sm overflow-clip py-0.5 pr-0.5 pl-2.5 bg-success-100\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-col gap-m overflow-clip rounded-[6px] !bg-success-10 p-3 @[420px]:p-m\">\n<h2 class=\"m-0 flex items-center gap-s text-[19px] !text-[#1c1c1c] md:text-[20px]\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"16\" height=\"10\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 10\" fill=\"none\" class=\"shrink-0 text-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><path d=\"M1 1.5h14\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2.5\" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><path d=\"M1 8.5h10\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2.5\" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><\/svg><span>Key Takeaways<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul class=\"m-0 flex list-none flex-col gap-m pl-0\">\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">CME bitcoin options open interest fell from $290M in November to under $40M by June 2026.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">Deribit max pain climbs to $75,000 for September and December 2026 contract expirations.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">Binance leads futures open interest at 131.97K BTC, an 18.22% share, per Coinglass data.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/cmes-terrence-duffy-targets-cftc-perps-approval-as-kalshi-volume-tops-3b\/\">CME<\/a>\u2018s <span>bitcoin<\/span> options open interest, measured in dollar terms, has dropped from a peak near $290 million in late November to roughly $30 million to $40 million by mid June, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptoquant.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cryptoquant<\/a> data. Put open interest still outweighs calls on most trading days, a pattern that has held since July 2025.<\/p>\n<p>When CME\u2019s options book is broken down by expiration, most contracts cluster in the one to two-month window. Longer dated positions, those expiring four months or more out, have thinned considerably since the fall, leaving traders concentrated in near term bets rather than spreading risk further into 2026 and beyond.<\/p>\n<h2>Futures Open Interest Tells a Different Story<\/h2>\n<p> <span>Bitcoin<\/span> futures <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coinglass.com\/open-interest\/BTC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">open interest<\/a> across exchanges paints a broader picture. Binance leads all venues with 131.97K <span>BTC<\/span> in open interest, worth $8.42 billion, good for an 18.22% share of the market, per Coinglass data. CME ranks second among the listed venues at 106.03K <span>BTC<\/span>, or $6.77 billion, holding a 14.64% share with a notably high open interest to <span>volume<\/span> ratio of 1.1547.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_824667\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-824667\" style=\"width:2560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-824667\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"> <span>Bitcoin<\/span> futures open interest via Coinglass on June 20, 2026.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Gate and Bybit sit close together at roughly 60K <span>BTC<\/span> each. MEXC holds 71.30K <span>BTC<\/span>. Smaller venues like Bitget, BingX, and Bitunix round out the rankings, with BingX posting an 18.41% drop in open interest over 24 hours, the steepest decline among the major platforms tracked.<\/p>\n<p>Exchange-wide <span>BTC<\/span> open interest in dollar terms has fallen from highs above $90 billion last October to a range closer to $60 billion to $70 billion now, tracking <span>bitcoin<\/span>\u2019s retreat from levels above $120,000.<\/p>\n<h2>Calls Still Outnumber Puts on Deribit<\/h2>\n<p>On Deribit, the largest <span>crypto<\/span> options exchange, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coinglass.com\/options\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">calls outweigh puts<\/a> in total open interest, 303,642.92 <span>BTC<\/span> versus 215,446.49 <span>BTC<\/span>, a 58.50% to 41.50% split favoring upside bets. The picture flips in 24-hour <span>volume<\/span>, where puts edge out calls, 11,148.96 <span>BTC<\/span> to 10,504.94 <span>BTC<\/span>, suggesting short-term hedging activity even as longer-dated positioning leans <span>bullish<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>The most active strikes on Deribit include the Dec. 25, 2026 $120,000 call, holding 7,526.9 <span>BTC<\/span> in open interest, and the July 31, 2026 $80,000 call at 7,118.9 <span>BTC<\/span>. Traders are also building positions on the downside, with the Dec. 25, 2026 $60,000 put carrying 6,224.1 <span>BTC<\/span>.<\/p>\n<h2>Max Pain Levels Diverge by Exchange<\/h2>\n<p>Max pain, the strike price where the largest number of options contracts expire worthless, varies by venue but follows a similar arc. On Deribit, near term max pain sits around $63,000 for this week\u2019s expiry, climbing toward $75,000 for contracts expiring in September and December 2026 before easing toward $72,000 by March 2027.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_824677\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-824677\" style=\"width:1534px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-824677 size-full\" title=\"Bitcoin Options Traders Load up on $120K Strike Through December 2026\" src=\"https:\/\/static.news.bitcoin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/screenshot-2026-06-20-at-6-42-04-pm.png\" alt=\"Max pain statistics. \" width=\"1534\" height=\"778\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.news.bitcoin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/screenshot-2026-06-20-at-6-42-04-pm-300x152.png 300w, https:\/\/static.news.bitcoin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/screenshot-2026-06-20-at-6-42-04-pm-1024x519.png 1024w, https:\/\/static.news.bitcoin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/screenshot-2026-06-20-at-6-42-04-pm-768x390.png 768w, https:\/\/static.news.bitcoin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/screenshot-2026-06-20-at-6-42-04-pm.png 1534w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1534px) 100vw, 1534px\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-824677\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Max pain stats for Binance, Deribit, and OKX via Coinglass.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/xrp-withdrawals-top-53-on-binance-as-leveraged-bets-hit-2026-high\/\">Binance<\/a> shows a comparable pattern, with max pain near $66,700 for the closest expiry and a climb to $75,000 by the September and December 2026 dates, then a pullback to roughly $56,600 by late March 2027. OKX traces nearly identical territory, with max pain rising from about $69,000 to $72,000 by September and continuing upward toward $75,000 in the data\u2019s furthest visible point.<\/p>\n<h2>What This Means for Traders<\/h2>\n<p>The gap between near term and longer-dated max pain levels signals that options writers expect <a href=\"https:\/\/www.binance.com\/en\/price\/bitcoin\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">bitcoin<\/a> to trade higher over the next six to nine months, even as current open interest on regulated venues like CME has contracted sharply from last year\u2019s highs.<\/p>\n<p> <iframe src=\"https:\/\/markets.bitcoin.com\/crypto\/bitcoin\/embed\" width=\"100%\" style=\"max-height:500px;height:500px;border:none;overflow:hidden;border-radius:4px\" scrolling=\"no\" title=\"bitcoin market data\"><\/iframe> <\/p>\n<p>Total <a href=\"https:\/\/www.binance.com\/en\/price\/bitcoin\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">bitcoin<\/a> options open interest across all exchanges has fallen to roughly $35 billion, down from a peak above $65 billion in October, according to Coinglass figures. That decline tracks <a href=\"https:\/\/www.binance.com\/en\/price\/bitcoin\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">bitcoin<\/a>\u2019s broader price retreat from six figures, but the concentration of call open interest at strikes well above the current spot price suggests traders are positioning for a recovery rather than abandoning the market altogether.<\/p>\n<p>For now, the options market is smaller than it was at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.binance.com\/en\/price\/bitcoin\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">bitcoin<\/a>\u2019s peak, but the strikes traders are choosing point toward expectations of higher prices later in 2026.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/bitcoin-options-traders-load-up-on-120k-strike-through-december-2026\/\">Source link <\/a><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Originally posted on : Bitcoin News ) Key Takeaways CME bitcoin options open interest fell from $290M in November to under $40M by June 2026. Deribit max pain climbs to $75,000 for September and December 2026 contract expirations. Binance leads futures open interest at 131.97K BTC, an 18.22% share, per Coinglass data. CME\u2018s bitcoin options [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":74321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74320"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}