I noticed an interesting dynamic in the Bitcoin options market. Puts with a strike price of $40k have surged to $490 million in nominal value — clearly indicating that traders are actively hedging against a decline. According to Deribit, these contracts expire at the end of February.

What's also intriguing is that total options worth $7.3 billion are due by the end of the month. Of these, $566 million are concentrated specifically at $75k, which is considered the most painful level for the market. It appears that the market is seriously preparing to protect itself against downside risk through hedging.

At the same time, call options exceed (63.5k compared to 45.9k puts, but the open interest ratio is only 0.72. An interesting pattern — people are hedging downside risks while not fully closing their long positions. It seems that hedging here functions as insurance rather than a position reversal. The market is clearly maintaining its stance but is also hedging its bets.