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 | 60% | 87 | $28 953.50 | -4.17% | -3.67% | $551 514 958 969 |  |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 |  ETH |
Ethereum predictions | 61.6% | 88 | $1 929.37 | -6.11% | -6.26% | $233 271 604 070 |  |
|
| 3 |  USDT |
Tether predictions | 95.6% | 1 | $0.999062 | 0% | 0.01% | $73 206 337 226 |  |
|
| 4 |  USDC |
USD Coin predictions | 96% | 1 | $1.000165 | 0.02% | 0.01% | $53 264 489 963 |  |
|
| 5 |  BNB |
Binance Coin predictions | 58% | 88 | $316.54 | -3.99% | 4.58% | $51 683 254 368 |  |
|
| 6 |  XRP |
XRP predictions | 58.4% | 91 | $0.397236 | -6.29% | -7.17% | $19 203 606 558 |  |
|
| 7 |  BUSD |
Binance USD predictions | 91.6% | 1 | $1.000278 | 0.11% | 0.03% | $18 328 809 687 |  |
|
| 8 |  ADA |
Cardano predictions | 56.4% | 93 | $0.502003 | -7.81% | -12.64% | $16 943 898 369 |  |
|
| 9 |  SOL |
Solana predictions | 58.4% | 91 | $48.07 | -9.25% | -12.69% | $16 307 952 335 |  |
|
| 10 |  DOGE |
Dogecoin predictions | 60.8% | 90 | $0.081327 | -5.98% | -8.79% | $10 789 659 758 |  |
|
| 11 |  DOT |
Polkadot predictions | 55.2% | 90 | $9.73 | -6.72% | -10.15% | $9 613 488 110 |  |
|
| 12 |  WBTC |
Wrapped Bitcoin predictions | 56.8% | 87 | $28 897.59 | -4.37% | -3.70% | $7 993 157 722 |  |
|
| 13 |  TRX |
TRON predictions | 73.2% | 56 | $0.079994 | 5.25% | 13.91% | $7 570 190 446 |  |
|
| 14 |  AVAX |
Avalanche predictions | 55.6% | 93 | $27.44 | -12.43% | -18.78% | $7 390 659 271 |  |
|
| 15 |  DAI |
Dai predictions | 93.2% | 1 | $0.999659 | -0.06% | -0.01% | $6 569 292 513 |  |
