Bitcoin traders are paying record prices for downside protection, according to VanEck’s Bitcoin ChainCheck from mid-March 2026, a sign that investors remain on the defensive even as spot prices begin to stabilize.
In the report, senior analysts at VanEck said bitcoin’s 30-day average price fell 19% from the previous period, while realized volatility fell from around 80 to just over 50.
Futures funding rates also fell from 4.1% to 2.7%, suggesting that leveraged speculation has cooled.
Options markets show that investors are as cautious as possible. VanEck said the buy-sell open interest ratio averaged 0.77 and peaked at 0.84, the highest level since June 2021, when China cracked down on bitcoin mining.
Traders spent around $685 million on puts over the past 30 days, while call premiums fell 12% to around $562 million, the report added. Relative to spot volume, put premiums reached approximately 4 basis points, an all-time high according to VanEck data.
“Relative to spot volume, put premiums reached an all-time high of approximately 4 basis points, approximately 3 times the levels seen in mid-2022 following the collapse of the Terra/Luna stablecoin and the Ethereum staking liquidity crisis,” the report reads.
That means investors are paying insurance against additional losses.
VanEck said that kind of fear has often marked turning points rather than new failures. The firm found that, over the past six years, similar options that distorted readings were followed by average bitcoin gains of 13% in 90 days and 133% in 360 days.
The report also notes that on-chain activity has remained weak while miner sales remain subdued.
