A $3.2 million 'bitcoin butterfly' option trade bets on $95,000 by the end of October
Your day-ahead look for Sept. 22, 2026
The trade was a “long call butterfly,” an options strategy that benefits most when the underlying asset settles near a specified middle strike price at expiry. The trade involved buying the Oct. 30 expiry calls at $90,000 and $100,000 while simultaneously selling twice as many $95,000 calls.
The trade was executed in five blocks, each consisting of 1,000 long $90,000 calls, 2,000 short $95,000 calls and 1,000 long $100,000 calls, according to data source Laevitas. The combined position involved a net initial payment of $3.17 million.
The strategy makes the most money if bitcoin is around $95,000 at expiry and has positive gross payoff between $90,000 and $100,000. Outside that range, the payoff is zero and the trader stands to lose the $3.17 million paid to establish the position.
The options market is also showing a broader preference for volatility across major tokens. On Monday, Coinbase Markets said options were pricing one-standard-deviation swings of 8.9% for XRP, 8.0% for SOL, 6.9% for ether and 5.0% for bitcoin through Sept. 27.