Gate Research Institute: Implied volatility reaches a nearly 2-year high, with 24H options call spread strategies dominating the market

Options Market Trends

Recent data shows that BTC implied volatility (IV) has risen to 53%, and ETH IV has increased to 73%; among them, BTC IV touched a nearly two-year high before pulling back, currently near the 90th percentile over the past year, reflecting a significant increase in market expectations for short-term price fluctuations.

Over the past week, the 25-Delta Skew for BTC and ETH has remained in negative territory, with clear put premium, indicating that market defensive sentiment still dominates; short-term skew widened rapidly due to event shocks but has since partially recovered, though the overall structure remains bearish. Implied volatility surged quickly into high oscillation levels; if there are no new macroeconomic or price shocks in the short term, the upward momentum of IV may slow down.

From the GEX distribution, around 70K is in a negative Gamma zone, where market makers tend to hedge by “chasing gains and cutting losses,” which can amplify short-term price volatility; if entering a positive Gamma dense zone, volatility tends to converge. Under a negative Gamma environment, actual volatility often pushes short-term implied volatility higher, making IV more prone to rise; only when returning to a positive Gamma zone can implied volatility decline or stabilize.

Block Trade Structure

In the past 24 hours, block trades in BTC and ETH options markets mainly involved bearish spreads. The largest block trades are as follows:

• BTC: Bought BTC-27MAR26-135000-C, sold BTC-27MAR26-96000-C, totaling approximately 1,400 BTC, with a net premium income of about $230,000.
• ETH: Bought ETH-27MAR26-3200-C, totaling about 2,250 ETH, with a net premium expenditure of approximately $20,000.

Options portfolio strategies can be executed using the combination order tool provided by the Gate platform.

Platform Updates

Gate has fully upgraded its options VIP fee system, covering all options products, achieving substantial fee reductions from beginner to professional users. VIP0 users can enjoy lower rates without asset or trading volume thresholds, giving newcomers a cost advantage from the start; during growth phases, upgrading to lower fees requires only “tens of thousands in assets and hundreds of thousands in trading volume,” far below the mainstream platforms’ billion-level trading or high asset requirements; professional and institutional users at VIP10+ can enjoy maker fees of 0% and taker fees of 0.015%, truly optimizing costs across all stages.

Options trading entry: https://www.gate.com/zh/options/BTC_USDT