Bitcoin sees surge in institutional confidence, Deribit-listed BTC options market reveals

Bitcoin's (BTC) rally is gaining momentum, with institutions stepping up their exposure to the leading cryptocurrency through Deribit's BTC options market.

"Panning out over just the last week shows a much bigger sign of institutional positioning on BTC," Deribit said on X Friday, noting the bullish flows in the BTC options.

The exchange has seen robust buying of call options at the $110,000 strike expiring in June and July and calendar spreads involving a long position in the $140,000 strike call expiring at the end of September and a short position in the $170,000 strike call expiring at the end of the year.

The demand for the $110,000 strike call indicates expectations for a continued price rise in the coming weeks, with potential for an extended rise to at least $140,000.

A call option gives the purchaser the right but not the obligation to buy the underlying asset at a predetermined price on or before a specific date. A call buyer is implicitly bullish on the market.

The exchange added that the bullish flows also included a roll over of long positions in May expiry to July expiries at strikes ranging from $110,000 to $115,000.

CoinDesk data show BTC topped $104,000 Thursday, marking a near 40% recovery from the early April lows under $75,000, amid optimism from the U.S.-U.K. trade deal and consistent inflows into the spot ETFs. Technical charts point to more gains ahead.

Ether, the native token of Ethereum's blockchain, has risen over 30% to $2,411 in two days, marking a bullish breakout on technical charts. The development has triggered interest in bullish ETH plays on Deribit, with traders snapping up the June expiry calls at $2,400 and longer duration call spreads betting on gains up to $2,600-$2,800.