Bitcoin is having a tough year. Traders are betting it's going to get worse

Bitcoin futures tumbled Thursday to as low as $58,995, the lowest price since October 2024. That brings the drawdown from last year's high to about 52 percent. The biggest cryptocurrency has been battling the $60,000 level all year. It found support there in February, then again in early June, before a pop to over $67,000. Options traders are treating this break like it could be the tip of an iceberg. The iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) traded just shy of 1.1 million options Thursday, almost double the average over the past thirty days, according to Cboe LiveVol data. Put volume more than doubled calls. Traders bought 275,000 puts, compared with just under 129,000 calls, data from ThinkOrSwim show. Of the $187 million premium traded in IBIT, $144 million was in puts, according to SpotGamma. Of the top 20 most-traded contracts by volume, 19 were puts. The most popular contract was the 32.5 strike put expiring Friday, which needs another 4.5% slide in bitcoin to pay off. Implied volatility in IBIT is just 53, meaning options market-makers expect a little over a 3% move per day.

According to the options prices in the July 31 expiry, there is about a 48% chance IBIT will fall below $30.5, or drop another 10%, between now and the end of next month. The odds of a 10% rally by that time are a bit higher, around 55%. Flows were not much more positive in Michael Saylor's Strategy, where 505,000 puts and 403,000 calls traded. Traders bought 83,000 puts and sold 72,000 calls, while buying just under 58,000 calls.