Bearish sentiments continue to dominate the Bitcoin market as the premier 
cryptocurrency looks to record a fifth consecutive monthly loss. Presently, 
prices are consolidating beneath the $70,000 mark, as market bulls struggle to 
force a decisive breakout above the resistance zone. Amid this choppy price 
action, data from the Bitcoin options market shows that traders are beginning 
to expect less volatility but still acknowledge the fragile nature of the 
market. Related Reading: Why Bitcoin Could Be Headed For Another Drop: 
Research Firm Cites Three Key Risks Bitcoin Volatility Expectations Drop, 
Market Panic Fades In an X post on February 20, Glassnode shared its weekly 
Bitcoin options market update, analyzing the traders’ behavior and sentiment 
in relation to present market conditions. The market analytics firm reports a 
notable change in volatility expectations that helps to subside the presently 
heightened bearish sentiments. According to Glassnode analysts, At-the-money 
(ATM) implied volatility across maturities has significantly dropped to around 
48%, down significantly from recent highs. Because ATM IV reflects the 
market’s expected move, the decline suggests traders are no longer betting on 
an immediate price crash. Notably, this shift is reinforced by moves in DVOL, 
an indicator for measuring aggregate implied volatility expectations. 
Following initial spikes during the market liquidation in late January/early 
February, DVOL has fallen by roughly 10 volatility points over the past two 
weeks, signaling that extreme hedging demand is easing out. In addition, the 
short-term volatility risk premium (VRP) has turned positive. Earlier this 
month, one-week VRP plunged to deeply negative levels at -45, as realized 
volatility far exceeded implied. Since then, implied volatility has repriced 
higher while realized volatility has stabilized, restoring a premium in short- 
dated options. Together, these metrics suggest that panic pricing is being 
reset, and expectations for outsized, volatile moves have declined. Related 
Reading: XRP Ledger Gets x402 Facilitator For AI Agent Payments: Why This Is 
Bullish Bitcoin Traders Remain Alert To Downside Despite the cooling in 
volatility expectations, other metrics show that traders are maintaining a 
defensive market position. For example, the Put skew, which measures the 
relative demand for downside protection versus upside exposure, remains quite 
heightened despite moving off the extreme hedge. After bottoming near the 7 
volatility points, the one-week 25-delta skew has rebounded toward 14 vol. The 
recovery indicates that while extreme fear has subsided, demand for downside 
insurance remains firm. The taker flow data also tells a similar story. Puts 
represented two-thirds of last week’s options activity, with outright put 
buying representing about 34% of total flow. The dominance of protective 
positioning suggests that market participants are not fully convinced the 
correction has run its course. In conclusion, the options market is signaling 
a more measured outlook, where expectations for immediate turmoil have faded, 
but traders are hedging to hedge against the risk of another downside. At 
press time, Bitcoin trades at $67,628 following a 0.92% gain in the last 24 
hours. More data from Glassnode also shows that Dealers are broadly short 
gamma across a wide price range between $70,000 and $58,000, a positioning 
structure that could amplify selling pressure if Bitcoin extends losses. 
Conversely, a large gamma concentration around $75,000 suggests positioning 
for a potential rebound. Featured image from Flickr, chart from Tradingview

Bitcoin Options Update: Market Panic Fades But Traders Remain Defensive – Details

Tether announced it will discontinue support for its offshore yuan stablecoin 
CNH₮, citing low demand and limited community adoption. The company will cease 
all new token issuances effective immediately, while redemption support will 
end one year from the announcement date…

Tether to wind down offshore yuan stablecoin CNH₮ amid low demand

At 8 a.m. on Saturday, bitcoin is trading between $67,974 and $68,138 per 
coin, commanding a market cap of $1.35 trillion, with $46.99 billion in 
24-hour trading volume and an intraday range of $66,585 to $68,236. The 
world’s largest cryptocurrency is compressing just beneath a critical 
resistance band, and the charts suggest that this stalemate […]

Bitcoin Consolidates Under Supply Zone With $60K Risk Still in Play

IoTeX said it is assessing suspicious activity tied to a token safe, 
coordinating with exchanges to trace funds after analysts linked the incident 
to a possible private key compromise.

IoTeX confirms ‘suspicious activity’ involving token safe, says losses contained

ECB president Christine Lagarde is a crypto skeptic, but her likely successors 
are no more enthusiastic about cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrency price in INR