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$BTC Stabilizes Near $70K but Traders Still Bet on the Downside, VanEck Reports

#Bitcoin traders are paying more for downside protection than at any point on record relative to spot volume, according to a mid-March report from investment firm VanEck. The data shows that even as $BTC prices have stabilized near $70,000, investors remain heavily positioned to profit if prices fall further.

$BTC's realized #volatility dropped from 80 to just above 50 over the past month. The price has held relatively steady during that period, recently trading around $69,891. Despite that stabilization, demand for options that pay out on a price decline has remained unusually high.

Traders spent approximately $685 million on put options over the 30 days covered in #VanEck's report. That figure declined 24% compared to the prior month but still ranked above 77% of all monthly observations since the start of 2025. Call option premiums fell 12% over the same period to around $562 million.

The put/call open interest ratio averaged 0.77 during the period and peaked at 0.84. VanEck said that peak is the highest level recorded since June 2021, when China moved to restrict $BTC mining activity. The firm described the reading as reflecting "unusually strong demand for downside hedging relative to bullish positioning."

Relative to spot volume, put premiums reached roughly 4 basis points, which VanEck identified as an all-time high in its dataset. That level is approximately three times higher than readings observed in mid-2022 following the Terra/Luna #stablecoin collapse and the #Ethereum staking liquidity crisis.