Ethereum Options Bulls Hold Firm Even as Futures Sentiment Hits a 2023 Low
Ethereum (ETH) options markets are showing a split personality on May 20. Call contracts make up more than 60% of the $6.92 billion in total open interest across major venues, reflecting a structural bias toward upside bets.
At the same time, the Binance futures taker buy-sell ratio has dropped to 0.91, a level not seen since 2023, with sell orders outpacing buy orders by a meaningful margin. The gap between the two readings is one of the widest this year.
What the Numbers Say
The taker buy-sell ratio measures real-time aggression in futures markets.
A reading below 1.0 means sellers are initiating more trades than buyers. At 0.91 on Binance, the reading indicates that active traders are leaning short or reducing long exposure.
The last time the ratio sat at this level, ETH was trading well below $2,000 in the summer of 2023.
Options markets tell a different story. Call options give holders the right to buy ETH at a set price.
When calls dominate total open interest at a ratio above 60%, it typically signals that a large portion of the market is positioned for a price increase, or is hedging against one. As of May 20, calls hold $4.15 billion of the $6.92 billion total.
Spot price sits near $2,124, a roughly flat reading against the prior 24 hours.
ETH ranks second by market capitalization globally, with a market cap of approximately $256 billion.
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Why Futures and Options Can Diverge
Derivatives traders use futures and options for different purposes, and the populations trading each instrument do not always overlap. Futures are the instrument of choice for short-term directional bets and leverage.
Options attract a broader mix of participants, including long-term holders using calls as cheap lottery tickets on upside, and institutions buying calls to hedge existing spot positions.
A futures sell-side skew often reflects near-term caution, especially in macro-uncertain conditions. It does not necessarily mean that longer-dated participants have abandoned a bullish thesis.
The current setup is consistent with a market where short-term traders are defensive while longer-horizon participants maintain upside exposure.
The divergence becomes more meaningful when the gap is persistent rather than a single-day reading. A sustained taker ratio below 1.0, combined with flat or growing call open interest, suggests the two cohorts are making different bets across different time horizons rather than one side being clearly right.
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Background
Ethereum futures sentiment has deteriorated steadily since the broader cryptocurrency market peaked in late 2024 and early 2025.
The ETH/BTC ratio, which measures Ethereum’s price relative to Bitcoin (BTC), has been on a declining trend for much of that period. JPMorgan analysts said in a report published this week that institutional flows have not returned to Ethereum at the same pace as Bitcoin (BTC) since a deleveraging event in October 2025, and that weak network activity remains a structural drag on the asset.
The Pectra upgrade, Ethereum’s most recent major protocol update, was completed in May 2025.
It raised the staking limit for validators and improved account abstraction, but it did not produce a sustained price rerating. Developer activity on Ethereum-based Layer-2 networks, which are secondary chains that process transactions faster and more cheaply by settling back to the Ethereum base layer, has grown through the period, though that growth has also attracted debate about whether it cannibalizes fee revenue for ETH holders.
Spot ETF outflows have added to the pressure.
The broader cryptocurrency market absorbed an estimated $648 million in spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF outflows in the week ending May 19, according to available aggregator data, keeping risk appetite for digital assets subdued.
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What to Watch
The divergence between options and futures positioning is not a clean trading signal. It maps the texture of disagreement in the market.
A resolution could come from either direction: futures sentiment recovering as macro conditions improve, or call open interest fading if spot ETH breaks below recent support levels near $2,000.
The taker buy-sell ratio on Binance is updated in near real-time and is one of the cleaner sentiment gauges available for ETH futures. Traders watching for a sentiment shift will look for a sustained move back above 1.0.
Options traders will watch whether the call-dominated open interest structure holds as ETH approaches any meaningful technical levels in late May.
A continued reading below 0.91 into the end of May would mark a multi-week stretch of futures pessimism not seen at any point in the 2024 bull cycle, which would be a structurally significant data point regardless of where spot price trades.
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