Ether makes history as key metric in ETH options outpaces Bitcoin by 32%

As Ethereum created history by taking over Bitcoin in the options market, the ETH futures contract came into price offset.

Ether (ETH) has taken over Bitcoin (BTC) in the options market for the first time in history, as the open interest (OI) of Deribit Ether options, worth 5, $6 billion, surpassed the Bitcoin Options OI worth $4.6 billion by 32%.

OI is calculated by adding all contracts from open trades and subtracting contracts when a trade is closed. It is used as an indicator to determine market sentiment and the strength behind price trends. Deribit is the largest BTC and ETH options exchange in the world, accounting for over 90% of global trading volume.

Data from the Deribit exchange highlighted that ETH options are primarily call options, with a put/call ratio of 0.26. The ETH Put/Call ratio hit a new yearly low as the merger date approaches.

Ethereum Open Interest Put/Call Ratio Source: The Block

Under the put option, buyers have the right but not the obligation to sell the underlying asset at a predetermined price no later than precise date. Overall, buyers of puts are implicitly bearish, while a call option trader is bullish.

A put/call ratio above 0.7 or above one indicates bearish market sentiment, while a put/call ratio below 0.7 and near 0.5 indicates an emerging bullish trend.< /p>

Related: Ethereum Merger: How Will the PoS Transition Impact the ETH Ecosystem?

ETH OI's recent surge in the options market with underlying bullish sentiment among traders is attributed to the upcoming merger scheduled for the third week of September.

As ETH continues to see growing dominance in the o...