Today, the overall crypto market is displaying mixed sentiment.
The market capitalization has dropped by a slight 1.57% to be at 3.26 trillion. Additionally, the crypto fear and Greed index is reading 71, which tells us that the market is leaning into greed.
Most importantly, it is worth noting that the Altcoin season indicator is reading 25/100.
This suggests we’re not in an altcoin season, and Bitcoin remains the dominant force in the market right now, and even though the altcoins recorded double-digit gains, that may have been a short-term rally.
What is fuelling the bullish Sentiment?
One factor that is making the bulls more optimistic is the surge in call options. These are simply financial derivatives that give traders the right to purchase Bitcoin at a pre-determined price. This is actually betting that the price of BTC will rise, hence the increased optimism.
Beyond the options market, some whale movements have also driven this. According to onchain data, May 17 saw 53.7K BTC accumulated by large holders with over 10,000. This movement often reflects a surge in long-term confidence in the asset, which in turn can lead to the smaller investors following suit. Also, holders have seen negative flows since August, meaning that more BTC has been moving out of the exchange and into long-term storage. Low exchange reserves create a supply squeeze effect, causing less Bitcoin to be available for trading, which, if and when it remains strong, can lead to the price appreciating.
One analyst, Alex Adler Jr, pointed out that short-term sellers in 2025 have been far more cautious when it comes to building bearish positions, especially when compared to the aggression seen during the 2021 bull run. Adler further adds that, “The only notable long-squeeze occurred during the correction around the $80K level. This shift in sentiment suggests that bears have become more risk-averse, a generally bullish signal.” This again suggests that the bears are neither as confident as they once were nor are they willing to bet big against it.
In an insight shared on CryptoQuant by Shayan Markets, Bitcoin has reclaimed the Realized Price of the 3–6 month holder cohort, a group considered crucial to market momentum. This means that these mid-term holders are back in profit, and historically, such reclaims have preceded strong upward moves. “However, a short-term corrective retracement toward this level, currently around $98K, remains a likely scenario,” Shayan concluded.
Meanwhile, on the derivatives market, Coinglass data reveals that Open interest has slightly increased by 1.86% to $68 billion, and trading volume has surged to 158.23 billion after a parabolic 147.94% increase.
Options volume has also skyrocketed by 404.63% to reach 4.61 billion, which is a clear display of a spike in hedging strategies.
At the same time, options open interest has climbed to $39.43 billion, up 3.05%, while BTC’s trading volume has risen by 84.99% to be at $64 billion. Our market data reveals that Bitcoin is still below its all-time high of 109,000 as it currently trades at $103,237.