Analysis: Options are no longer the dominant driver of cryptocurrency price movements, and market positioning has become more cautious.

PANews reported on January 14th that Matrixport's chart analysis today indicates that the increased trading activity in Bitcoin and Ethereum options over the past two years has been a significant driver of market performance. However, the impact of options on prices has recently weakened considerably. Ethereum option exposure peaked in August 2025, while Bitcoin option exposure peaked in October 2025. Since then, option-related positions in both markets have declined significantly, deleveraging has continued, and the impact of options on spot price volatility has decreased accordingly.

This shift reflects a slowdown in the pace of short-term capital inflows, with new position allocations becoming more selective. Bitcoin's notional options exposure has decreased from approximately $52 billion to around $28 billion. While many traders still express their expectations for future price increases by buying call options, Ethereum's position structure exhibits different characteristics: previously, long futures positions were often hedged with put options, but these hedging combinations are now being gradually unwound, indicating that deleveraging is still underway.