Crypto Bears Take Control As Investors Hedge Against Bitcoin Falling Below $75,000

Bitcoin bears have taken control in the past week as the cryptocurrency fell below $80,000. Open interest signals most investors are eyeing $75,000 and $70,000 as key levels.

Bitcoin fell to as low as $78,537 on March 10, sliding from a seven-day high of $92,300, and is now trading at $82,095.

The question is whether bitcoin can hold above $80,000. There are 9,715 puts, or options to sell at a set price, at $80,000, with a notional value of $796 million, according to data from Derebit. Notional value is the total value of a trader’s position.

From there the next big test point is $75,000, with 9,089 puts with a notional value of $745 million. That’s followed by $70,000, with 9,730 puts at a notional value of $797 million.

The dip below $80,000 tugged the Crypto Fear & Greed Index back into “extreme fear” with a score of 20 after a week largely in the “fear” zone above 25.

Bitcoin is tracking the broader traditional markets, which have been spooked by President Donald Trump’s tariff trade war, which he warned on Sunday might bring about a recession.

Liquidations Spike

Over the past 24 hours, more than 242,000 crypto traders were liquidated, according to Coinglass, for a total of $692 million. $221 million of that came from bitcoin.

Correctly predicting “an ugly start to the week,” former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes warned in a Sunday night X post that there is a great deal of open interest between $75,000 and $70,000. If the price gets into that range the market will be “violent” he warned.

This means the price will be bouncing wildly up and down as traders look to hedge their bets by offsetting their option positions in the cash or futures markets to protect themselves against steep losses as the price gets closer to the strike price of their contracts.

That means a lot of volatility will be coming if Bitcoin can’t remain close to the top of the range above $78,000. The volatility will only worsen if the price of bitcoin approaches and potentially passes $75,000.