Institutions Target $140K BTC, $4K ETH as Call Open Interest Surges

Options Market Tilts Bullish as Bitcoin and Ether Rally Gains Steam

Bitcoin and Ethereum are building on strong year-to-date gains, with options traders doubling down on bullish bets that suggest confidence in further upside.

Bitcoin (BTC) has surged 29% in 2025, while ether (ETH) is up 9%. Options activity on leading platform Deribit highlights that market participants are heavily favoring the upside, with the $140,000 call emerging as the most active strike—representing $2.36 billion in notional open interest. The $120,000 and $130,000 levels also show elevated positioning.

By contrast, the $100,000 put—currently the most favored downside hedge—carries just half the interest of the top bullish strike, reflecting a clear imbalance toward upside expectations.

Ethereum options mirror this dynamic. Amberdata shows that the $4,000 ETH call is the most crowded trade, with $650.8 million in open interest. The $6,000 strike is also seeing meaningful action, with $280 million in active positions.

A call option gives holders the right to buy an asset at a predetermined price before expiry, typically used to express optimism about price appreciation.

Decentralized trading platforms echo this sentiment. On Derive, 25% of ETH’s 24-hour trading volume was concentrated in call options between $3,000 and $4,000 expiring July 25. Open interest in the $4,000 strike accounts for 8% of that contract’s total exposure.

“This is a strong signal of growing bullish conviction,” said Dr. Sean Dawson, head of research at Derive. “We’re seeing an appetite for leveraged long positions as investors align around ETH’s continued breakout.”

Bullish momentum for ether is also being reinforced by the regulatory environment. The recent approval of the GENIUS Act—a landmark U.S. stablecoin bill—has helped clarify the status of yield-bearing tokens and is broadly seen as a net positive for Ethereum’s ecosystem.

Daniel Liu, CEO of Republic Technologies, said institutional adoption may accelerate as a result.

“In a post-GENIUS environment, we expect a pivot toward ETH-denominated yields via native staking and transparent restaking products,” Liu said. “These assets will be better defined and free from the constraints facing traditional stablecoins.”

According to Liu, this will likely increase Ethereum network activity, boost fees, and strengthen ETH’s value case as an institutional treasury asset.

As bullish bets mount and regulatory clarity improves, both BTC and ETH appear poised for further momentum heading into the second half of 2025.