Ethereum Options Skew Bullish as $2,500 Calls Dominate Short-Term Flow

Ethereum (ETH) options positioning remained tilted toward the upside even as overall open interest slipped slightly, with the market’s most active short-dated flow clustering around the $2,500 call strike—an indication that traders are still leaning into near-term ‘bullish bets’.

As of May 28 at 00:00 UTC, data compiled by Coinglass showed total Ethereum options open interest (OI) at roughly $6.888 billion, down about 1.03% from the prior day’s $6.96 billion. Calls accounted for 61.30% of outstanding contracts, compared with 38.70% for puts, keeping the broader positioning skewed toward upside exposure even as total OI eased.

Options trading volume over the past 24 hours was about $1.074 billion. By venue, Deribit printed around $200 million, CME about $9.15 million, OKX roughly $133 million, Binance around $243 million, and Bybit about $489 million. In volume terms, calls represented 59.39% versus 40.61% for puts—suggesting speculative activity was still predominantly oriented toward upside scenarios, though demand for downside protection remained meaningful.

On the open-interest leaderboard, the largest concentrations were seen in the $2,100 put expiring May 29 on Deribit, followed by the $2,500 call expiring June 26 on Deribit and the $3,200 call expiring Dec. 25 on Deribit. The mix highlights a common structure in ETH derivatives: sizable put positioning at lower strikes for hedging or crash protection, alongside heavier call exposure at higher strikes that expresses a willingness to pay for convex upside.

Short-dated activity was even more clearly centered on calls. Over the last 24 hours, the most heavily traded contracts were the $2,500 call expiring May 29 on Bybit, followed by the $2,400 call expiring May 28 on Bybit and the $2,350 call expiring May 28 on Bybit. Concentrated turnover in near-expiry calls often reflects traders seeking quick exposure to spot moves, intraday momentum, or volatility spikes rather than building longer-horizon positions.

While open interest is a gauge of how much options risk remains outstanding in the market, volume captures what is being actively traded in the moment. A modest OI decline alongside call-heavy turnover can indicate traders are rotating exposure and targeting specific near-term strikes rather than adding broad new leverage—an environment that can amplify price sensitivity around key levels such as $2,500 as expiries approach.

For ETH, the persistence of call dominance in both OI and volume points to sustained ‘risk-on’ sentiment in derivatives, but the sizeable put share underscores that hedging demand is still present—an important signal that the market is pricing both upside continuation and the possibility of short-term pullbacks as volatility remains a key driver.