Traders aren’t panicking yet despite cooling crypto sentiment
Your day-ahead look for Sept. 28, 2026
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Bitcoin
But as of now, there are no such signs.
That’s evident from skew, an options market metric that tracks the spread between what traders pay for downside puts and what they pay for upside calls. A sudden put bid would mean puts getting much more expensive than calls. That’s not the case so far. But yes, calls are no longer in demand as they were a week ago, a sign that bullish sentiment has cooled.
Data analytics firm Laeviats calls it skew reversion not a put bid.
“The 1.98v week-over-week move on BTC 7d skew to -0.45v sits at the 92nd percentile of its 52-week range against a -4.41v median, so downside remains historically cheap even after calls have given up their premium,” it said in an explainer on X. (v stands for volatility, options are often priced in terms of volatility).
In plain English, puts are relatively pricier than calls, but the relatively richness is barely even noticeable compared to the typical reading of around -4.41 over the past year or so. In other words, puts usually cost a lot more than they do now.
The takeway, therefore, is that bitcoin traders are chasing puts they are not yet positioning for a crash or deep sell-off.
For ether, calls are still more expensive than puts, but the premium has narrowed from a week ago, suggesting that bullish sentiment has cooled.
10x Research also noted an uptick in demand for puts.
“Put demand has jumped over the past few days. The question is whether that is a short-term hedge or the start of a regime shift,” it said on X.
On bitcoin, they still see cheap options, not panic pricing.
“Implied vol is back near cycle lows while realized vol runs 12 points higher, and some Bitcoin options are now priced at 30 vol on a market moving at 42.” Essentially, bitcoin options are still cheap. Stay alert!
What’s trending
— Bitcoin Bears Pay to Bet on Further Declines as Futures Positions Near Yearly Lows (CoinDesk): Overall demand for leveraged exposure remains weak, marked by sliding futures open interest. The capital that’s still in the market appears skewed toward bearish positions.
— Solana ETFs Draw Record $188 Million in a Week as Bitwise Takes Two-Thirds of Inflows (CoinDesk): U.S. spot solana exchange-traded funds attracted a record $188 million last week, with Bitwise’s BSOL taking about two-thirds of the money as every fund in the group recorded inflows.
— China Says U.S. Trade Truce Extension Creates Space to Advance Talks (Reuters): Markets have been waiting for news on Chinese tariff cuts on US farm goods following last week’s Washington summit of leaders Xi Jinping and Donald Trump.
— Brent Crude Hits Multi-Month High as Middle East Supply Risks Mount (Financial Times): Oil rose above $108 a barrel on Monday, pushing US borrowing costs back up to their highest level since 2007, as hopes faded that Washington and Tehran could reach an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Today’s signal
The chart shows bitcoin’s daily price swings in candlestick format.
Prices have pulled back to under $83,000, revisiting the high clocked in May. That level of $82,813 was formerly seen as potential resistance, a supply zone, when BTC began rallying early this month.
However, prices swiftly rose through the same level on Sept. 21, flipping it into support. Now, it is being tested again. If it holds, the next leg higher could unfold. If the support gives way, a deeper pullback may unfold.
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