BTC Dump and ETH Pump: Institutions Bet on Contrarian Crypto Outlook
The recent crypto recovery has been led by both Bitcoin and Ethereum, but their returns have fallen this week. At the time of writing, BTC was trading above $79,000, while ETH's price was valued at around $2,500.
Despite a bullish outlook, institutions are betting on a simultaneous BTC dump and ETH pump. This has led to the question: could altcoins outperform Bitcoin, particularly Ethereum?
A look into expiring Bitcoin options reveals that bulls were in full control of BTC's price before its move. According to Deribit, more than 81,700 BTC worth $6.40 billion in Bitcoin Options expire on Friday, 28th August, at 4.00 AM ET.
The highest concentration of BTC Options was at $70K, with a notional value for calls at this level being $874 million and a Put/Call ratio of 0.52. This reinforces the bearishness in institutions' bets on BTC dumping.