Bitcoin Drops as Investors Buy $22K and $20K Puts
Bitcoin is falling a day after the options market saw increased demand for out-of-the-money or lower strike put options at $22,000 and $20,000. The leading cryptocurrency was trading at a three-week low of $30,700 at press time, representing a 3.5% drop on the day. The decline has flipped the crucial 50-week simple moving average (SMA) support of $32,250 into resistance.
On Sunday, 500 contracts of the $22,000 put option expiring on Dec. 31 changed hands via the institution-focused over-the-counter (OTC) desk Paradigm. Similar volume crossed the tape for the $20,000 put expiring on Dec. 31.
Market makers are always on the opposite side of traders/investors and run a direction-neutral portfolio. That essentially means buyers of the $20,000 and $22,000 puts expiring on Dec. 31 were investors, most likely adding downside hedges against long positions in the spot/futures market. A put option gives the purchaser the right but not the obligation to buy the underlying asset at a predetermined price on or before a specific date. A put buyer is implicitly bearish on the underlying asset, in this case, bitcoin.
Top Cryptocurrencies with Price Predictions
| # | Crypto | Prediction | Accuracy | CVIX | Price | 24h | 7d | Market Cap | 7d price change | |
| 1 |  BTC |
Bitcoin predictions | 58% | 88 | $23 111.56 | 1.40% | 2.46% | $445 467 385 928 |  |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 |  ETH |
Ethereum predictions | 58.8% | 85 | $1 597.71 | 1.63% | -3.12% | $195 518 478 203 |  |
|
| 3 |  USDT |
Tether predictions | 96% | 1 | $1.000214 | 0% | 0% | $67 518 894 139 |  |
|
| 4 |  BNB |
Binance Coin predictions | 64.8% | 72 | $307.54 | 1.77% | 1.44% | $48 561 092 766 |  |
|
| 5 |  USDC |
USD Coin predictions | 92% | 1 | $0.999961 | -0.01% | 0.02% | $43 079 802 564 |  |
|
| 6 |  XRP |
XRP predictions | 67.2% | 74 | $0.411374 | 1.67% | 0.42% | $20 899 274 392 |  |
|
| 7 |  BUSD |
Binance USD predictions | 93.2% | 1 | $0.999970 | -0.02% | 0% | $15 797 945 581 |  |
|
| 8 |  ADA |
Cardano predictions | 60.8% | 79 | $0.389742 | 4.62% | 8.05% | $13 479 166 661 |  |
|
| 9 |  DOGE |
Dogecoin predictions | 61.6% | 75 | $0.087530 | 3.33% | 2.02% | $11 612 632 457 |  |
|
| 10 |  STETH |
Lido stETH predictions | 90.8% | 1 | $2 941.39 | -0.40% | -3.32% | $10 258 752 564 |  |
|
| 11 |  MATIC |
Polygon predictions | 62% | 78 | $1.15 | 6.65% | 12.37% | $10 012 288 547 |  |
|
| 12 |  SOL |
Solana predictions | 56% | 90 | $24.46 | 2.79% | -1.52% | $9 087 126 673 |  |
|
| 13 |  DOT |
Polkadot predictions | 57.2% | 87 | $6.59 | 3.51% | 6.21% | $7 583 086 372 |  |
|
| 14 |  AVAX |
Avalanche predictions | 54.4% | 92 | $20.95 | 17.58% | 20.92% | $6 593 829 036 |  |
|
| 15 |  SHIB |
SHIBA INU predictions | 59.6% | 84 | $0.000012 | 3.13% | -2.02% | $6 476 713 621 |  |
