BTC ‘Violent’ Move Expected after Price Hike toward Record

“All things are pointing towards if momentum keeps us going up, then we could see another violent move upwards,” said Luke Nolan, a research associate at digital-asset manager CoinShares. But even a small change in ETF flows could cause people to quickly deleverage, “it works both ways,” he said.

An influx of purchasers for short-dated options has increased Bitcoin fluctuations to the highest since last year’s collapse of crypto-friendly Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). The notional value of the March 29 call and put options contracts has increased to around $7 billion, far above the amount of any other contracts on a specific expiration date, according to data from Amberdata, finance.yahoo.com reported. 

The jump in short-term options that have strike prices in a relatively small range is laying the groundwork for a what’s called a gamma squeeze, in which a change in price can trigger a swift swing in the market. The open interest for the contracts with the March 29 expiration date is clustered at $65,000, $60,000 and $70,000, a short distance from the current spot market price, according to data from Deribit.

“We can still see a huge amount of OTM (out of money) calls,” Nolan said. “If Bitcoin pushes to levels near that, then in my opinion we could certainly get a squeeze.”