Traders Pile Into Coinbase Calls as Bitcoin Hits June High
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- Bitcoin jumped Tuesday to its highest level since mid-June, even as the S&P 500 sat nearly flat over the prior five days
- Coinbase shares rallied roughly 11% to ~$178 after dipping below $150 earlier this month, a level the stock has tested and held multiple times since early 2024
- Coinbase options traders placed overwhelmingly bullish bets — 114,000 calls vs ~50,000 puts, with 4x more calls bought than puts and $80M of $100M+ total premium tied to calls (SpotGamma data)
- Robinhood options mirrored that bullishness, with 125,000 of 170,000 total contracts being calls and 6x more calls bought than puts (ThinkOrSwim data)
- IBIT saw twice as many calls bought as puts, though more calls were sold than bought — a neutral-to-bullish outlook in the bitcoin ETF itself
- Strategy, Michael Saylor's bitcoin treasury company that is down more than 75% over the past year, drew twice as many calls bought as puts
Why it matters: Coinbase drew $80M in call premium on contracts needing 7.5% more upside to pay off — the heaviest bullish flow among the crypto-linked stocks tracked. With Strategy still down 75%+ over the past year and IBIT showing only a neutral-to-bullish skew, the concentration of bullish bets in brokers like Coinbase and Robinhood means retail-driven equities are leading — not just following — Bitcoin's June high.
