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Bitcoin reached a fresh all-time high near $81,000 and the futures premium soared, in a clear sign that investors believe the record-run in the world’s largest cryptocurrency is poised to gain even more at the end of the US elections that saw a swell of pro-crypto candidates win office.
Open interest in bitcoin’s price above $90,000 rose to more than $2.8 billion on the popular derivatives exchange Deribit, one of the few crypto-native platforms offering futures trading. Deribit covers most of the offshore options market.
“The options market is heavily biased towards sustained momentum. Call option trading at a premium to puts, and open interest in out-of-the-money calls is high,” Vetle Lunde, head of research at K33 Research, told CNBC.
A call option gives the buyer the right to buy shares of the underlying asset at a specified price for a specified period of time. Buying call options is a bet that the asset price will go higher. Buying a put option is a bet that the price of the asset will fall.
The CME derivatives exchange offers bitcoin futures contracts and is a popular way for institutions in the US to make bets on the future price of bitcoin. Velde told CNBC that there is a CME premium for ether and bitcoin averaged 14.5% and 14%. Ahead of the election, Velde said the premium is sitting at 7%, and has spent the majority of the past half year hovering slightly below 10%.
“The recent spike is a deviation higher that confirms the recent bullish flow,” he added, noting that yields were more or less stable for the second time after the election became clear.
“Besides the growth in leverage, we saw the first example of a useful yield in offshore derivatives, showing a move led by determining the position of risk-takers to rise again,” said Velde.
The initial round of bitcoin’s push higher coincided with substantial growth in open interest in continuous swaps, or contracts that allow buyers to speculate where they think prices are headed without an expiration date.
But liquidity in the crypto market at the weekend is usually poorer than during the week, because neither CME futures nor ETFs are open for trading, so the movement tends to overreact and must retrace after the market opens again, according to Velde.
President-elect Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail to turn the United States into the “crypto capital of the planet.” Multiple promises to the crypto community include launching a national crypto stockpile with more than $16 billion in bitcoins collected by the US government through asset seizures, as well as lowering interest rates. Easing monetary policy usually dovetails with increases in crypto prices because it makes it cheaper to borrow money.
The Federal Reserve, which guides the country’s monetary policy, sets the benchmark rate. It also, by design, operates independently of the White House. On Thursday, The Fed approved its second consecutive interest rate cut.
Behind the election results and the Fed’s unanimous vote to again slash the benchmark rate, the crypto market broadly surged into the weekend. Ether eclipsed the rise of bitcoin, up 30% in the last seven days, and solana market capitalization topped $100 billion on Sunday.
The total market capitalization of all spot bitcoin ETFs is now more than $80 billion, and in the last three trading days alone, spot funds added $2.3 billion.
In fintech, companies tied to crypto are some of the best performers, after candidates funded by the crypto industry won the race up and down.
Coinbase shares rose 48% for the week, the strongest performance since January 2023. Coinbase was one of the top corporate donors in the election cycle, giving more than $75 million to Fairshake and affiliated PACs, including a new pledge of $25 million in support. pro-crypto super PAC in mid-2026.
Trump has vowed to oust SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, which is potentially good for companies like Coinbase fighting the regulator in court over securities violations.
“Tuesday night is definitely going to be a big night for crypto and crypto voters,” Coinbase legal officer Paul Grewal said in an interview. “We’re going to have the most pro-crypto Congress ever, and Coinbase has played some part in it all.”
Robinhood, which allows users to buy and sell a range of digital currencies, rose 27% for the week. The online broker received the Wells Notice from the SEC in May, a move that often precedes official charges.
Robinhood’s general manager for the crypto unit told CNBC that his goal at Robinhood is to work in administration.
“If you think about crypto, it’s a very fast step. It’s complicated, made by engineers, for engineers,” said Johann Kerbrat, Vice President and General Manager of Robinhood Crypto. “We want to help policymakers understand that and help them create the right protections for their customers.”
