Spot desks went quiet while derivatives traders kept busy, with Bitcoin options open interest holding between $37 billion and $38 billion

Tue 3 Nov 2026 · 16:41 EST · 3 min read

In Finance

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Bitcoin spent October looking like a party where the music was loud but almost nobody was dancing. Crypto trading volumes fell over the month, while options volume and open interest both climbed.

A rally without the crowd

Bitcoin pushed past $85,000 early in October. The participation behind it was thin. Spot volumes averaged approximately $6.8 billion per day in early October.

That daily average sat lower than roughly 90% of trading days since January 2024. Put simply, this was one of the quietest stretches for spot buying and selling in nearly two years.

By late October, spot market demand indicators had turned negative. CryptoQuant reported a cumulative demand drop of 76,000 BTC over that period. Spot buyers were not just showing up less often. On net, they were stepping back.

ETF inflows offered little relief. They stayed subdued through the month, which removed one of the steadier sources of spot demand from the picture.

Meanwhile, in the options pit

Derivatives traders told a very different story. Bitcoin options open interest moved between $37 billion and $38 billion from mid-to-late October.

Calls made up about 59% to 60% of that open interest. A call is a contract that pays off if the price rises above a set level, so the tilt leaned bullish.

Options trading on Coincall reached $409 million in a single week. Much of that action clustered around the October 30 expiry. About $190 million in trades on Coincall targeted that one date alone.

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Futures added more weight to the derivatives side. Bitcoin futures open interest sat at roughly $51 billion to $55 billion over the same period.

How options went from side dish to main course

This divergence would have been hard to picture a few years ago. Back in 2019, Bitcoin options open interest stood at around $200 million.

That figure has since grown to $38 billion. It marks a shift from a niche tool used by a handful of specialist desks into a core part of how traders handle Bitcoin risk.

Options let traders express a view without buying or selling the coin itself. They can bet on a rise, protect against a drop, or position for big swings either way.

October fits that pattern neatly. Spot participation softened, yet traders kept using derivatives to manage leveraged views and existing exposure.

What the split means for traders

The cooling spot market points to caution. Low participation suggests many investors are waiting for clearer signals before committing fresh capital.

Without renewed spot demand, rallies can fade as easily as they formed. The early-October push past $85,000 is a useful reminder of how a move can happen without strong conviction behind it.

Subdued ETF flows suggest that spark had not arrived by the end of October.

The heavy call share and large open interest signal expectations of future volatility. Concentrated activity around dates like October 30 can create pockets of turbulence as contracts settle and positions roll over.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Vivian Nguyen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

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