$5.2M in, $68.4M out, and the seller is back in the game until 30 October
In August someone sold 4,709 bitcoin calls at the 70,000 strike and took in $5.2M. Bitcoin was near 63,000 at the time.
On 25 September those same calls had to be bought back for $68.4M: bitcoin had risen 33% in between.
But the position wasn't closed. The same $139M block, the largest in 100 days of our archive, sold 4,709 October calls for $71M. The bet runs until 30 October.
- Source: our hourly archive of every Deribit trade with the aggressor side and block number, since 11 June 2026
- Cross-check: archive volume in the 24-hour windows of 4 August and 25 September matches the exchange's volume to a tenth of a contract. Open interest: daily Deribit chain snapshots
- Data frozen 25.09.2026, 09:30 UTC
Sold 4,709 September 70,000 calls in two blocks, on 31 July and 3 August. On 25 September bought them back in one block and sold the same number for October.
The record block
At midnight one two-leg trade went through on Deribit. It bought 4,709 bitcoin calls at the 70,000 strike that expired that same morning, 25 September. It sold 4,709 identical calls for 30 October.
Bitcoin was at 84,615, so both calls sat deep in the money, each worth more than $14,500. Together the trade moved $139M. The previous single-block record in our archive is $14M.
Open interest on the October 70,000 strike rose from 1,060 to 5,767 contracts in a day. So the October position is new, while the 4,709 September calls had belonged to someone since the summer.
Where the 4,709 came from
On the evening of 31 July someone sold 2,000 September 70,000 calls in a single block. On 3 August, 2,709 more. Exactly 4,709 in total, the same number bought back on 25 September.
Bitcoin was near 63,000 then, with the strike 11% higher. The seller took 0.0175 BTC per call, $5.2M in all.
Open interest on this strike rose from 2,124 to 6,081 contracts over those days. So these were new sales, not closing trades. By expiry week the 70,000 strike was the largest line in the whole September bitcoin expiry.
Bars: open interest in BTC-25SEP26-70000-C from daily Deribit snapshots, contracts. Dashed: the same strike for October. Blue line: bitcoin price.
33% the wrong way
On 19 August bitcoin crossed 70,000, and the sold call started costing the seller real money. On 23 September, at 86,600, buying back the 4,709 calls would have cost $78.6M.
On 25 September, eight hours before settlement, the buyback came to $68.4M. On the options alone that is $63.2M more than the $5.2M taken in.
So in the 53 days after the second sale bitcoin didn't just pass the strike, it climbed 21% above it.
Line: 4,709 × September call mark × bitcoin price, $M. Dashed: taken in at the August sale.
Not closed, rolled
In the same trade the seller sold 4,709 calls at 70,000 for 30 October and took in $71M. That is $2.6M more than the September buyback cost.
So the position didn't close, it moved 35 days forward. Same strike, same size, new date.
At 08:00 UTC the September calls settled at 83,931. By then the position was already living in October.
What the new position bets on
The seller took in about $15,100 per October call. If bitcoin is below 85,100 on 30 October, the options leave the seller ahead.
Every $1,000 higher costs the position about $4.4M: the October calls have a delta of 0.93 and there are 4,709 of them.
Bitcoin is near 84,600 now, just under that line. So on the options alone the new position bets that September's rally doesn't carry on into October.
Someone bets the other way
On the evening of 24 September another trader, in four blocks, sold 2,000 September 80,000 calls for $8.8M and bought 4,000 October 90,000 calls for $6.9M.
That October position only pays off above 91,700. The 70,000 call seller's position only earns below 85,100.
So on 30 October they can't both get paid. These are the two biggest new positions in October's bitcoin expiry over the day from 24 to 25 September.
Both positions settle on 30 October. If bitcoin ends between 85,100 and 91,700, neither pays. We're tracking both every day: open interest on the October 70,000 and 90,000 strikes and every new block on them. When either position moves, or on settlement day, the follow-up goes here.
You'll see the next block like this on the day it prints
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Evidence and limits
Trades: Deribit hourly archive since 11 June 2026 with block number and aggressor side. Blocks BLOCK-282154 (31.07), BLOCK-282235 (03.08), BLOCK-289214 (25.09) and four blocks on 24.09 from 15:39 to 15:45 UTC.
Exchange cross-check: archive volume for BTC-25SEP26-70000-C in the 24-hour windows of 4 August (760.3) and 25 September (5,837.8) matches the Deribit chain snapshot to a tenth.
Exact ledger: sold 2,000 + 2,709 = 4,709 at 0.0175 BTC ($2.20M + $3.03M); bought back 4,709 at 0.1717 BTC ($68.41M); sold 4,709 October at 0.1782 BTC ($71.00M). Open interest on the October 70,000 strike rose from 1,060 to 5,767.
Limits: we can't see whether the seller holds bitcoin spot. If they do, this is a covered call rather than a bet against the rally, and the $63.2M options gap was covered by the coin's own rise.
That the 25 September buyer is the same seller as in August isn't proven: the matching 4,709 size and the trade built as a date roll point that way, but the exchange doesn't reveal identities.
Breakeven and delta are for the options leg only, before fees, at Deribit's mark on 25 September.
A decision journal, not investment advice. Reconstructed from public exchange records.