In January, the trading volume of Ethereum options reached an unprecedented ~$20 billion, according to a dashboard from The Block.
Three-quarters of this volume was attributed to the Deribit platform.
The highest activity was concentrated in call options with a strike price of $2500 expiring on February 23. Open interest in these options reached 74,548 contracts with a nominal value of ~$172 million.
In other words, a significant portion of traders anticipate Ethereum breaking above $2500 within the next 24 days.
The publication noted increased activity in the blockchain of the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
Since the beginning of the year, transaction volume has reached the equivalent of $102.9 billion. The figure for January exceeded December’s ($97.8 billion) by 5%. This metric significantly surpasses levels observed in 2023 and the latter half of 2022.
Earlier, Standard Chartered predicted Ethereum could rise to $4000 due to the anticipated approval of a spot ETF based on it. Analysts also mentioned the upcoming Dencun update as a potential driver.
On January 30, developers successfully implemented a hard fork in the ecosystem’s second test network, Sepolia.
Previously, FOX Business concluded that in the coming months, staff at the SEC might delve deeper into S-1 filings, as they did with proposals to launch spot Bitcoin ETFs. This would signal a positive decision in the future.