Bitcoin Reclaims $78,500 as Traders Unwind Election Hedges and Zcash Leverage Surges 28%

Bitcoin volatility has fallen to its lowest level since the Binance hack as BTC approaches $78,600, while Zcash futures leverage climbs 28% ahead of the network’s NU7 upgrade.

Bitcoin options traders have begun unwinding positions they established to hedge against uncertainty surrounding the US midterm elections. The shift has pushed implied volatility to its lowest point since the Binance incident, coinciding with Bitcoin’s recovery toward $78,570.

Deribit’s DVOL index, which measures the market’s expectations for Bitcoin’s price fluctuations over the next 30 days, dropped to 37.03 earlier today. The index was at 40.76 around midday Tuesday as US voters headed to the polls.

Bitcoin’s price has moved higher alongside the decline in volatility. BTC was trading at $78,570 on Binance, representing a 3.7% recovery from its overnight low of $75,736, reached as election results began emerging.

Meanwhile, risk appetite is increasing across the altcoin market. Open interest in Zcash futures on OKX surged 28% over 24 hours to $196 million, roughly 36 hours before the cryptocurrency’s scheduled NU7 network upgrade.

With election uncertainty now behind the market, attention is turning to whether Bitcoin can reclaim the $80,000 threshold and which alternative cryptocurrencies are leading the recovery.

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Bitcoin News: What Are Options Traders Positioning For?

Options markets suggest traders are preparing for a relatively subdued month with a modest bullish bias. The US midterm elections generated less concern among Bitcoin derivatives traders than the Binance hack.

Deribit’s DVOL index reached 44.25 approximately four hours after the exchange breach. By comparison, it climbed to just 40.89 around the time Americans voted.

Positioning on Deribit currently favors bullish contracts. Open interest includes 193,024 BTC in call options compared with 132,544 BTC in puts, producing a put-to-call ratio of 0.69. Call contracts also exceeded puts in trading activity over the previous 24 hours.

For the November 27 expiration, the largest individual position consists of 4,484 BTC in $90,000 call options. On the bearish side, the biggest put position is concentrated at the $75,000 strike, representing 2,880 BTC and sitting just below this week’s price low.

Polymarket participants are also identifying higher price levels as potential near-term targets:

• $80,000 this month: 85.5%
• $85,000: 39.5%
• $90,000: 15.5%
• Bitcoin falling to $75,000: 60.5%

However, futures traders are showing less confidence in an immediate upward move.

Bitcoin futures open interest on OKX increased 4.2% over 24 hours to $3.86 billion. Despite the increase, the proportion of accounts positioned for further gains declined, with the long-to-short ratio falling to 1.88 from 2.74.

Funding rates on Hyperliquid remain at the standard 0.01% every eight hours, suggesting traders are not yet paying higher premiums to maintain leveraged long positions.

Institutional demand through exchange-traded funds also remains weak. US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $115.56 million in net outflows on Tuesday, November 3, pushing their cumulative 30-day outflows to $1.32 billion. Spot Ether ETFs experienced another $85.35 million in withdrawals.

Bitcoin Price Analysis: Can BTC Break Through $80,000?

Bitcoin appears to have established an important support area following its overnight recovery. The price briefly dropped to $75,736, finding buyers just below its 200-day exponential moving average at $76,530.

Notably, BTC has not recorded a daily close beneath this moving average since the Binance hack, making it an important technical level for traders monitoring the recovery.

The next major obstacle is the 50-day EMA near $80,076. Bitcoin remains approximately $1,500 below this resistance, which also aligns with the $80,000 target that Polymarket participants currently assign an 85.5% probability of being reached this month.

The daily chart highlights several important price levels:

• $80,076: The declining 50-day EMA, representing immediate resistance.
• $81,971: The October 29 high, where Bitcoin’s previous rally stalled before the Binance hack.
• $76,530: The 200-day EMA, acting as an important support level.
• $75,736: The latest overnight low, followed by $74,968, the September low.

Zcash Leads the Leverage Rally Ahead of NU7

Zcash is attracting increased speculative interest ahead of its upcoming network upgrade. Open interest in its OKX futures market climbed 28% to $196 million, while the token remains one of the largest markets on Hyperliquid, with approximately $662 million in open interest.

The upcoming NU7 activation is providing a potential catalyst. The Zcash Foundation’s Zebra 7.0.0 release is scheduled to activate the upgrade at block height 3,543,405. This activation height was incorporated into the Zcash specifications on October 21.

NEAR has gained 11%, while its open interest has remained nearly unchanged. This suggests that spot-market buyers, rather than leveraged derivatives traders, are driving much of the advance. NEAR recorded $108 million in Binance trading volume, approaching XRP’s $111 million. However, early data showed $3.60 million in outflows from its US ETF on Tuesday.

Ethena has advanced 10% even as open interest declined 3.2%. This combination typically indicates that short sellers are closing positions, helping push prices higher.

Bitcoin’s election-related uncertainty has largely faded, and options traders are positioning for a less volatile trading period. Whether improving sentiment develops into a broader cryptocurrency rally or another period of consolidation will become clearer as altcoins respond to the changing market conditions, with Zcash’s Friday upgrade serving as an important near-term catalyst.

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