Bitcoin Slides Below $62K as Options Desks Stay Call-Skewed Despite Broad Crypto Selloff

Bitcoin traded at $61,702 near midday Wednesday, down 2.6% over 24 hours as the broader crypto complex sold off. Despite the drawdown, IBIT options positioning stayed distinctly call-skewed with a 0.478 volume put/call ratio, suggesting institutional desks are treating the pullback as a positioning opportunity rather than a defensive moment.

Market Pulse

Spot majors are red across the board. Bitcoin trades at $61,702 (-2.62%) with a 2.20% session range, ether at $1,722.96 (-2.74%), and solana leading the downside at $76.76 (-4.73%). XRP holds $1.07, off 3.46%. Binance perpetual funding sits at +0.0072% per 8h on BTC (roughly +7.85% annualized) and +0.0045% on ETH — mildly long-tilted but nowhere near stretched. SOL funding has flipped slightly negative at -0.0017%, consistent with the deeper spot drawdown. The setup points to spot-led selling rather than a perp-driven unwind.

Options Positioning

The clearest signal is at the ETF option level. IBIT (underlying $35.84) prints a 0.478 volume P/C against a 0.742 OI ratio, with top call open interest stacked at the $45 (OI 80,745) and $40 (OI 58,491) strikes — well above spot and consistent with medium-term upside positioning rather than downside hedging. FBTC is even more call-skewed on the day (vol P/C 0.126), though standing OI shows a defensive $40 put wall (OI 16,816). ETHA is more balanced at 0.680 vol P/C, with IV30 at 51.4% — a 14-point premium to IBIT's 37.8%, reflecting the wider intraday ranges in ether. Notably, ETHA's largest single put strike is $10 (OI 70,330), sitting far below the $13.37 underlying.

Narrative

News flow is defensive but not panicked. One desk note flagged bitcoin's rejection at channel resistance and eyed sub-$59K continuation, while a widely-circulated analyst piece framed BTC as no longer the “fastest horse” in the crypto complex. A separate CoinDesk column argued MSTR-linked overhang concerns have largely dissipated, redirecting attention to traditional macro signals. Taken together, the tape is trading on positioning fatigue rather than a specific catalyst — no single headline is driving the move.

Afternoon Watch

USDT market cap contracted $1.18B over 24 hours per InflowScan data, while USDC added $173M — worth monitoring for whether the stablecoin drawdown extends through the US close.
Next 8-hour funding print on Binance perpetuals — a shift from long-tilted to neutral would be historically associated with deleveraging into weakness.
Whether BTC defends the $61,000 handle into the equity close; a sustained break would open the $59K zone flagged in this morning's analyst notes.