Market News

By Sunil Jagtiani

(Bloomberg) -- Bitcoin stabilized just below the $100,000 level it topped for the first time this week after briefly diving almost 7% earlier in the day, underscoring rising volatility following the past month’s rally. 

The digital asset fell as low as $92,144 before rebounding to around $99,500 as of 11:15 a.m. in New York. Ether, the second largest cryptocurrency, surpassed the $4,000 mark for the first time since March. Volatility has plagued the wider crypto market amid a hiatus in a rally fueled by President-elect Donald Trump’s embrace of the sector.

Demand has ticked up for bearish wagers such as put options, which provide the right to sell at a predetermined price in a set period. Some of the most notable activity was for puts with strike prices of $95,000 and $100,000, according to Amberdata. Demand for puts in the $75,000 and $70,000 range also increased.

“Although it feels like we’ve still got room to run, investors taking some profits off the table is expected,” said Josh Gilbert, market analyst at eToro. “If we look back at previous cycles, it’s not unusual to see 20% to 40% drawdowns in the Bitcoin price during bull markets.”

Bitcoin, the largest digital asset, pierced the $100,000 price level on Thursday on optimism that Trump’s pick of a crypto proponent to be the next head of the US securities regulator will push the market further into the mainstream.

Trump has vowed to undo a Biden administration clampdown on digital assets and turn the US into the global home of crypto. The Republican even backed the idea of a strategic national Bitcoin reserve, a controversial idea that former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers called “crazy.”

White House Czar

Late Thursday in the US, Trump posted on Truth Social that David Sacks will be the White House czar for artificial intelligence and the cryptocurrency industry. “He will work on a legal framework so the Crypto industry has the clarity it has been asking for, and can thrive in the US,” Trump said.

The president-elect’s support for virtual currencies is underpinning sentiment, buttressed by $33 billion of net inflows into US Bitcoin exchange-traded funds this year. At the same time, the token’s 45% advance since Election Day on Nov. 5 raises the question of whether the rally is due a breather.

“This spike in volatility over the last 24 hours has the hallmarks of a classic blow-off top,” said IG Australia Pty Market Analyst Tony Sycamore. “While we don’t see this as the end of the Bitcoin bull run, it does signal we are entering a consolidation phase in the days or weeks ahead.”

Six-Figure Strikes

Other parts of the derivatives market signal ongoing optimism into 2025. On the Deribit exchange, the highest open interest for options expiring at the end of January is for calls with strike prices of $110,000 and $120,000.

Options volume on BlackRock Inc.’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, the biggest fund for the token, surged to a record on Thursday. More than 400,000 calls changed hands, against almost 190,000 puts, data compiled by Bloomberg show. 

In some of the most notable strategies, $51 and $41 puts expiring Jan. 17 traded for a total of almost 34,000 contracts. A few minutes later, May 16, $58 call and $58 puts changed hands in two opening blocks of 12,000 options each.

--With assistance from David Pan and Cecile Vannucci.

(Updates prices in first and second paragraphs.)