Bitcoin is trapped between $75,000 and $80,000 ahead of a massive Friday derivatives settlement

Bitcoin is trading between $80,000 and $78,000, and faces two option strikes that could shape dealer hedging into Friday.

Reported call exposure at $75,000 and $80,000 creates a test of whether those positions dampen Bitcoin’s next move or add force to a break.

Roughly 81,700 Bitcoin options representing about $6.4 billion in notional are scheduled to settle on Deribit at 08:00 UTC on Aug. 28.

A refresh of Deribit’s BTC options data placed its Bitcoin reference price near $78,514. Applied to 81,700 one-Bitcoin contracts, that gives about $6.415 billion in notional.

The $75,000 call strike carried about $236 million in reported notional, while the $80,000 call strike held about $157 million. Those are call-side open-interest concentrations, worth a combined $393 million or 6.1% of the reported $6.44 billion expiry.

The Bitcoin hedge path can split two ways

Options dealers adjust hedges as Bitcoin moves and an option’s sensitivity to the underlying price changes. Near expiry, those adjustments can become more responsive around heavily populated strikes.

Dealers positioned one way may trade against a move and help keep price near a strike. A different net position may require trades that reinforce a break and accelerate it.