34 min ago2 min readTrades pay millions for upside exposure. (E Hillsley/Unsplash)SummaryTraders spent $2.9 million on bitcoin call-option contracts betting that the cryptocurrency will rise above $82,000 by Sept. 4.Bitcoin has climbed about 25% in a week to roughly $80,000, fueled by the U.S. Treasury’s bond-buyback announcement, spot bitcoin ETF inflows and short liquidations.Despite the rally, negative options skew points to broad-based cautious sentiment. Bitcoin’s BTC$80,724.98 recent staggering price rise has some traders paying millions for upside exposure.On Monday, one or more traders bought 2,000 bitcoin call-option contracts with an $82,000 strike price expiring on Sept. 4, according to data tracking platform Laevitas. The trade effectively bets that bitcoin’s spot price, currently near $80,000, will rise above $82,000 on or before Sept. 4. Think of it like buying a lottery ticket – the buyer pays a relatively small upfront amount for the chance of a much larger payout if the bet pays off. In this case, the call buyers spent $2.9 million in premium, the maximum they stand to lose if bitcoin remains below $82,000 through the Sept. 4 expiry.This bullish options flow comes amid a renewed upswing in Bitcoin. BTC is currently trading around $80,000, up from roughly $64,000 a week ago, a 25% gain over seven days, according to CoinDesk data.The rally appears to have been driven by the U.S. Treasury’s bond-buyback announcement, continued inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs, and short liquidations that likely accelerated the move higher.Caution persistsBroadly speaking, the multi-billion dollar options market listed on Deribit continues to showcase caution.That’s evident from a metric called skew, which tracks the spread between volatility premium for calls relative to puts. Negative readings indicate a bias for puts or downside protection. According to Leavitas, BTC’s seven-day skew slipped to -5.17% from +2.36%. ETH’s skew fell to -12.15% to +3.41%. “That reads as downside protection being bid aggressively after a violent rally that has since stalled in the high 70s, with the surface pricing the wall of event risk into the back half of the week rather than a breakdown in the tape,” Laevitas noted Monday. Since then, BTC has pushed above $80,000, though seven-day skew remains negative, suggesting demand for upside calls still outweighs demand for downside puts despite the fresh highs.Related Assets12345678910Anvil: The Missing Collateral LayerAnvil: The Missing Collateral LayerAnvil is a shared on-chain collateral layer built on a programmable letter of credit: reserve assets as a guarantee -no loan, no interest, keep custody & yield.Jul 29, 2026Anvil is a shared on-chain collateral layer built on a programmable letter of credit: reserve assets as a guarantee -no loan, no interest, keep custody & yield.Why it matters:Anvil is a shared on-chain collateral layer built on a programmable letter of credit: reserve assets as a guarantee -no loan, no interest, keep custody & yield.View Full Report