- Bitcoin rallied above $81,000 on Thursday.
- Traders remain cautious over the short-term.
- Some market analysts expect Bitcoin to surge later in the year.
Bitcoin options traders aren’t bullish about the asset’s near-term prospects.
That’s even as global markets exhaled on Wednesday amid President Donald Trump’s sudden 90-day pause on tariff hikes.
Despite a market-wide sigh of relief on Wednesday, Bitcoin options traders remain wary of a near-term upside.
The move spurred a global rally, lifting equities and sending cryptocurrencies higher. Bitcoin jumped above $81,000 on Thursday, gaining 5% in 24 hours.
Still, jittery Bitcoin options traders aren’t betting the farm yet.
Market analysts say the recent price move hasn’t shifted sentiment among options traders, who continue to sell short-dated contracts.
“We continue to see topside selling in Bitcoin options for May and June,” noted analysts at QCP Capital, a crypto trading outfit.
The analysts said the trend suggests that market makers are using the current rally to offload unwanted positions.
Options data from crypto derivatives exchange Deribit show that the most popular options trade for April were $70,000 put bets — bearish bets that pay off if the price drops.
The other side of the trade is called a call option, which lets traders place bullish bets.
QCP analysts said traders are more optimistic about Bitcoin’s outlook later in the year, even if they’re hesitant to chase the current move.
“The purchase of December $100,000 calls points to longer-term optimism for Bitcoin to revisit the $100,000 milestone later towards the end of this year,” they said.
Despite Bitcoin’s wobble in 2025, some market observers are forecasting a sharp recovery.
Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and chief investment officer at Maelstrom, has predicted that Bitcoin will trade at $250,000 this year.
Hayes said Trump’s policies would force the Federal Reserve to become the liquidity provider of last resort by pivoting toward quantitative easing.
If that happens, it would mark a new all-time high — surpassing the previous peak above $108,000 seen during Trump’s inauguration in January.
Joel Kruger, market strategist at LMAX Group, said shifting macro dynamics — including a potential Fed pivot and intensifying US trade policy — could further fuel Bitcoin.
“Bitcoin appears well-positioned to trend higher through year-end even if US equities face further downside,” Kruger said.
Osato Avan-Nomayo is our Nigeria-based DeFi correspondent. He covers DeFi and tech. Got a tip? please contact him at osato@dlnews.com.
