Long-term Bitcoin (BTC) whales selling covered calls, a method of selling call options that give the client the proper, but not the duty, to buy an asset in the longer term at a predetermined price in return for the vendor receiving a premium, are suppressing spot BTC prices, in line with market analyst Jeff Park.
Large, long-term BTC holders, also referred to as “whales” or “OGs,” are exerting disproportionate selling pressure through this covered call strategy, partly because market makers are on the opposite side buying the covered calls, Park said.
This implies that market makers need to hedge their risk of shopping for the calls by selling spot BTC, which pushes down market prices despite strong demand from traditional exchange traded funds (ETF) investors.
The volatility biases of BlackRock's IBIT ETF in comparison with native Bitcoin options similar to those found on crypto derivatives exchange Deribit. Source: Jeff Park
Because the BTC used to underwrite the choices has been held for a very long time and doesn’t represent latest demand or latest liquidity, the calls act as an overall downward pressure on prices. Park said:
“If you have already got the Bitcoin inventory that you may have had for 10+ years and you might be selling calls against it, it is just the decision selling that’s adding latest delta to the market – and that direction is negative – you might be a net seller of delta when you find yourself selling calls.”
The evaluation concluded that the worth of Bitcoin is driven by the choices market and that price motion will remain choppy so long as whales proceed to extract short-term profits from their Bitcoin supply by selling covered calls.
Bitcoin is decoupling from stocks as analysts attempt to gauge where the worth of BTC will go next
Bitcoin, which some analysts say is correlated with technology stocks, has decoupled from the stock market within the second half of 2025 as stocks continued to make latest highs while Bitcoin fell back to across the $90,000 level.
The price of Bitcoin is hovering above the $90,000 mark. Source: CoinMarketCap
Several analysts predict that BTC will resume its price rise if the US Federal Reserve continues the rate of interest cutting cycle and injects liquidity into the economic system, providing a positive price catalyst for dangerous assets.
According to financial derivatives firm CME Group's FedWatch data tool, 24.4% of traders expect one other rate cut on the January Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.
However, other analysts predict a possible drop to $76,000 and say that Bitcoin's bull run is already over.
