Crypto Majors Grind Higher Into Midday; IBIT Call Open Interest Concentrates at $50 Strike

Crypto majors traded higher into Thursday's midday session, with Solana leading at +3.8% over 24 hours and bitcoin reclaiming $62,791. IBIT options open interest skews call-heavy at a 0.737 P/C ratio, with the $50 strike now the largest single-strike position on the chain — a configuration that points to upside positioning rather than hedge demand, according to InflowScan data.

Market Pulse

Bitcoin trades at $62,791, up 2.08% over 24 hours on a tight 1.14% intraday range. Ether holds $1,646 (+1.52%), Solana prints $65.59 (+3.78%), and XRP sits at $1.1139 (+1.52%). Binance perpetual funding tells a more cautious story than spot: BTC funding runs +0.0027% per 8h (annualized ~+3%), while ETH (-2.66% annualized), SOL (-0.37%), and XRP (-3.01%) all sit modestly negative. The mix — spot higher, alt funding negative — is historically associated with short-covering bids rather than fresh leveraged longs.

Options Positioning

IBIT shows the cleanest read on institutional bias. P/C open interest at 0.737 with the $50 call (OI 82,082) and $45 call (OI 79,938) anchoring the chain against a $34.85 underlying — that's deep out-of-the-money positioning consistent with directional upside bets. FBTC reinforces the pattern with an even more skewed 0.509 P/C OI and a $100 call strike carrying 10,125 contracts. ETHA tilts neutral-to-defensive at 1.064 P/C volume, with the $10 put (OI 23,842) sitting just below the $12.22 underlying. IV30d runs hot on ETHA (62.0%) and BSOL (63.7%) versus IBIT's 45.8%, suggesting the expected-volatility bid concentrates outside BTC. XRPC's 0.048 P/C OI reads as effectively one-sided call positioning at $22 (OI 3,102), per InflowScan data.

Narrative

Sentiment is being shaped by two competing currents. On the institutional side, U.Today flags IBIT as the lead name in a recent bitcoin ETF exodus — context for why today's call-heavy positioning matters: the bid is showing up in options before it shows up in primary creations. Separately, NewsBTC reports ether futures hit a Binance volume record, which aligns with ETHA's elevated IV. Macro overhang comes from DailyCoin's framing of next week's rate decision as priced in, with Kevin Warsh's first press conference treated as the actual variable — a setup that keeps front-end IV bid across the complex. Stablecoin supply ticked modestly lower on the day (USDT -$22.7M, USDC -$10.0M), per InflowScan data, suggesting sidelined capital is neither staging in size nor being deployed.

Afternoon Watch

16:00 UTC cross-exchange funding refresh — whether ETH and XRP funding turn back toward neutral would be consistent with short-covering exhaustion.
IBIT $50-strike call OI and FBTC $100-strike OI through the close — sustained growth historically associated with directional positioning rather than overwriting.
Headline risk around Warsh press conference framing; front-end IV on ETHA and BSOL already sits near 62-64%.