While Bitcoin (BTC) broke new records by surpassing its previous ATH seen in the 2021 bull run, Ethereum (ETH) draws attention with its weak performance.
At this point, ETH still hasn’t surpassed its ATH of over $4,890 from three years ago (November 2021), while its price continues to trade around 44% lower.
However, options traders are bullish on Ethereum in the medium term. Nansen research analyst Nicolai Sondergaard said that Ethereum options traders are bullish.
Accordingly, Nansen analyst stated that more than 70% of the open interest of the options is in call contracts, and said that more and more investors are betting on ETH and expecting an increase.
The analyst added that although investors expect a bullish outlook for Ethereum, they continue to act cautiously.
“Ethereum options traders are mostly focused on calls. There is a lot of focus on February and March expiration times, especially for the $3,000-$4,000 levels.
“The low Put/Call Ratio also supports investors' optimism. For these reasons, investors seem confident about medium-term growth in Ethereum.”
Sondergaard said that despite the optimistic outlook, whales are cautious about the ETH price, indicating that there is still downside risk for ETH.
“Some major players are hedging against downside risk in ETH with puts (22% of block trades), suggesting that while they are generally bullish, they are also wary of downside risks,” the analyst said.
Ethereum, which has gained 4.6% in the last 24 hours, continues to be traded at $2,805 at the time of writing.
*This is not investment advice.
