Dealer Hedging Puts Bitcoin $80,000 Zone in Focus

Bitcoin traders face a $6.44 billion options expiry on Deribit at 08:00 UTC this Friday, covering 81,700 BTC contracts as spot hovers near $79,000 after a rapid climb from $62,000.

The size and positioning of that expiry, concentrated at the $75,000 and $80,000 strikes, puts dealer hedging flows squarely in control of short-term price action heading into settlement.The expiry consists of 44,639 call contracts against 37,061 puts, producing a put-to-call ratio of 0.83, according to Deribit data.

That skew shows calls outnumber puts by a wide margin, though the ratio alone doesn’t confirm directional conviction as some of those calls sit inside spreads or covered positions rather than outright bullish bets.The $75,000 strike carries the largest call concentration at $236 million in notional value, with $80,000 close behind at about $157 million.

Bitcoin’s rally pushed both strikes in the money, meaning holders can exercise profitably before accounting for premiums and fees.Discover: The Best Token PresalesGamma Hedging and the Pinning Risk at $80,000Market makers hedge options exposure by trading spot or futures against their book, and that hedge ratio shifts fastest when the price sits near a heavily populated strike, or a dynamic known as gamma hedging.