ETH Options Traders More Bullish Than BTC's

Highlights

Ethereum options traders bought calls at 39.7% of volume last week, well above Bitcoin's 28.5%.
ETH traders also sold far fewer puts (13.5%) than Bitcoin traders (22.9%), pointing to more consistently bullish positioning.
The skew comes into a week dominated by more than a dozen scheduled Fed speeches and Thursday's CPI print.
Separately reported options data corroborates the theme: Ethereum's block-trade call share has run as high as 73.7% versus roughly 36% for Bitcoin.

Ethereum options traders are positioning more aggressively for upside than their Bitcoin counterparts heading into a data-heavy week for macro markets. Last week's options breakdown showed 39.7% of Ethereum options volume consisted of purchased calls, well above the 28.5% share seen in Bitcoin options.

Ethereum traders were also markedly less defensive: they sold puts at just 13.5% of volume, compared with 22.9% for Bitcoin, meaning ETH's options chain carried noticeably less hedging activity relative to outright bullish bets than Bitcoin's did over the same stretch.

A Pattern That Shows Up Across the Options Market

The gap lines up with a broader trend that has shown up across multiple corners of the options market this year: Ethereum's derivatives positioning has consistently run more call-heavy than Bitcoin's. Separately reported options-market data has shown Ethereum's put-to-call ratio running as low as 0.78 against Bitcoin's 0.91, with calls making up 62.65% of ETH's total open interest.

That gap widens further in institutional block trades, where Ethereum calls have represented as much as 73.7% of executed volume against roughly 36.4% for Bitcoin calls. Taken together, the pattern suggests professional and institutional traders alike have been expressing a persistent preference for ETH upside exposure over BTC's, even as both assets have traded through the same macro headwinds this year.

The composition of that positioning matters as much as its direction. A market skewed toward outright call buying rather than put selling tends to be more sensitive to sudden reversals, since call buyers have already paid their premium and stand to lose it entirely if prices stall or fall, whereas put sellers who collect premium can often ride out modest moves against them. That makes Ethereum's options market, on this reading, a somewhat more binary bet on upside continuation than Bitcoin's comparatively balanced positioning heading into the same week of catalysts.

Landing in a Fed-Heavy Week

The positioning lands in a week where macro catalysts are unusually dense. Federal Reserve officials have more than a dozen scheduled public appearances this week alone, with Thursday's CPI print standing out as the single most closely watched data point.

That backdrop follows Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's hawkish Jackson Hole speech on August 28, after which CNBC reported that fed funds futures briefly priced a 60.4% probability of a rate hike at the September meeting — a sharp reversal from the rate-cut expectations that dominated crypto trading for much of the year. For options markets broadly, this kind of concentrated event risk typically pushes traders toward either aggressive directional bets or heavy hedging; the data here suggests Ethereum traders have leaned toward the former while Bitcoin's options market has stayed comparatively more balanced. A hawkish surprise from any of this week's Fed speakers, or a hot CPI print, would test that ETH-heavy call positioning directly, since a rate-hike scare typically hits higher-beta assets like ETH harder than BTC.

The Fed's tone this year has already proven capable of moving crypto sharply: Warsh's Jackson Hole remarks on inflation and the need for a “quieter” central bank were enough to knock Bitcoin down roughly 3% in the immediate aftermath, even before September's rate decision is made. With the FOMC's unanimous read at that meeting still characterizing labor markets as stable while flagging inflation as too high, this week's dense run of speeches and Thursday's CPI print carry more weight than a typical data week — and options markets, including Ethereum's call-heavy positioning, are effectively a running bet on how that tension resolves.

What to Watch

Traders should watch Thursday's CPI release and the tone of this week's Fed commentary as the catalysts most likely to validate or unwind the current skew. If ETH continues to hold its bullish options positioning through a hawkish data week, that would mark a notable show of conviction; a sharp reversal in call buying, by contrast, would suggest the recent optimism was more a bet on continued momentum than a structural view on Ethereum's macro resilience. The ETH/BTC ratio itself remains a useful real-time gauge of whether that options positioning is translating into actual relative price performance.

FAQ

What does it mean that Ethereum traders bought more calls than Bitcoin traders?
It signals more traders are positioning for ETH price gains relative to hedging or betting on declines, compared with Bitcoin traders over the same period — 39.7% of ETH options volume was call buying versus 28.5% for Bitcoin.

Why did Ethereum traders sell fewer puts than Bitcoin traders?
Selling fewer puts means less hedging or income-generating activity and more outright bullish exposure; ETH traders sold puts at just 13.5% of volume versus 22.9% for Bitcoin.

What macro events could shift this positioning this week?
Thursday's CPI print and a heavy schedule of Fed speeches are the main catalysts, especially after Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's hawkish Jackson Hole speech pushed rate-hike odds higher.

Has this bullish ETH skew shown up elsewhere in the options market?
Yes — separately reported data shows Ethereum's institutional block-trade call share running as high as 73.7%, compared with about 36.4% for Bitcoin, reinforcing the same relative-positioning pattern.