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Bitcoin options open interest concentrates ahead of Sept. 16 Fed decision
End-of-September open interest totals 130,670 BTC versus 79,003 BTC in August, and call pricing is moving richer versus puts as spot Bitcoin ETFs draw strong inflows.
Crypto options positioning for bitcoin is showing a large concentration into the end-of-September expiry, with 130,670 BTC in open interest versus 79,003 BTC for August, according to CryptoSlate. The report links the calendar structure to how traders roll quarterly positions into major expiry dates, noting that September and December together account for 59.3% of all bitcoin options open interest.
DWF Labs market insights lead Martin Lee said most of the September gap is not simply an all-in wager on the Federal Reserve, pointing to routine quarterly positioning and strike concentration. Lee also found that the top five strikes make up 31% of September open interest, a similar concentration seen in both December and March.
Trading activity picked up around the Fed period, the article says, with 14,983 contracts traded the week of July's Fed meeting. The subsequent jump came weeks later, when weekly volume tripled to 64,749 contracts around Aug. 19, the same week the US Treasury announced it would at least double long-end liquidity-support buybacks starting Sept. 9.
As call demand rises, the piece adds that end-September calls are trading 0.97 volatility points richer than puts, after being 4.96 points cheaper on Aug. 3. It also cites demand-side support from US-traded spot bitcoin ETFs, which took in roughly $1.92 billion last week, the strongest weekly pace of 2026, while noting bitcoin trades about 9.8% above the largest September call strike at $70,000.
CryptoSlate also highlights that put pricing has been richer for nearly a year and that the December expiry has shown a negative monthly median every month from December 2025 through August 2026, with only three positive daily readings across 224 sessions. The report frames the current options shift as part of the same rally dynamics underpinning bitcoin's options market.
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