Just checked the options data, and wow – market fear is currently at an extreme level. Traders are paying record prices for put options to hedge against price declines. The put/call ratio has risen to 0.84, the highest level since June 2021. And relative to spot volume, put premiums have reached an all-time high of about 4 basis points – three times higher than after the Terra/Luna collapse in 2022.

But what's interesting is: spot prices are stabilizing right now (BTC currently around 74K), realized volatility has fallen from 80 to 50, and futures funding rates have dropped from 4.1% to 2.7%. This shows that leveraged speculation is cooling off. Investors remain defensive, even though technical conditions are actually easing.

Historically, this is interesting: According to VanEck, such extreme hedging costs have often marked turning points in the past, not new crashes. Over the last six years, similar phases have typically been followed by an average gain of 13 percent over 90 days and 133 percent over 360 days. So, it could be a classic fear-driven sell-off scenario, where markets are defensive but opportunities might be increasing.