Bitcoin bulls need to reclaim $41K ahead of Friday’s $615M BTC options expiry

cointelegraph.com:

Over the past three months, Bitcoin's (BTC) daily closing price fluctuated between $35,050 and $47,550, which is a 35.7% range. Although it might seem excessive, this is not unusual, especially considering BTC’s 68% historical annualized volatility. 

The relief rally that came after the April 11 dip below $40,000 followed the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) report that announced 8.5% for March, the highest since 1981. Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, the CPI jumped to 7%, a 30-year high.

For these reasons, cryptocurrency traders are increasingly concerned about the ability of the U.S. Federal Reserve rate hikes expected throughout 2022 to contain inflationary pressure. If the global economies enter a recession, investors will likely move away from risk-on asset classes like cryptocurrencies.

Moreover, the Bitcoin price correction was costly to leverage traders because the aggregate liquidations reached $428 million at derivatives exchanges.

The open interest for the April 15 options expiry in Bitcoin is $615 million, but the actual figure will be much lower since bulls were overly-optimistic. These traders might have been fooled by the short-lived pump to $48,000 on March 28 because their bets for April 15's options expiry extend beyond $50,000.

Bitcoin's recent downturn below $41,000 took bulls by surprise and only 18% of the call (buy) options for April 15 have been placed below that price level.

The 1.21 call-to-put ratio shows the dominance of the $335 million call (buy) open interest against the $280 million put (sell) options. Nevertheless, as Bitcoin stands near $41,000, most bullish bets are likely to become worthless.

If Bitcoin's price remains below $42,000 at 8:00 am UTC on April 15, only $62 million worth of these