Options listed on Deribit show a persistent bullish outlook for bitcoin relative to ether, after President Donald Trump omitted any mention of cryptocurrencies in his inaugural address on Monday.
At midday Hong Kong time, BTC call options, which offer bullish exposure to the leading cryptocurrency, were trading higher than ETH call options on different time frames, according to risk reversals tracked by Amberdata. Risk reversal measures the difference between the implied volatility of call and put options, with positive values indicating bullish sentiment.
BTC risk reversals show that long and short call options are trading at a premium of four to five volatility points to puts. Meanwhile, ETH calls trades with a relatively smaller volatility premium than puts.
In other words, the ether-bitcoin ratio is seen as extending the bearish trend. The ratio hit a three-year low of 0.03 earlier this week.
The bias in favor of BTC is particularly surprising given that Trump did not mention the strategic reserve of bitcoins on Monday, despite previous rumors suggesting he would do so.
At the same time, a report showing Republican Congress priorities included no mention of bitcoin or crypto.
Traders on decentralized betting platform Polymarket now see a 38% chance of Trump announcing a strategic BTC reserve in his first 100 days in office. That’s down from almost 50% a day ago.
