Options Traders Are Back at 2021 Levels: Will Bitcoin Repeat That Year's Doubling?

Options on individual stocks now trade about $700 billion a day in underlying share value, near 2021 levels. Bitcoin (BTC) staged a 2021 doubling, from about $29,000 to almost $65,000, as an options boom took hold.

Carrick Lane, an options-focused investment manager, supplied the figure, the Wall Street Journal reported. Bitcoin, however, has not repeated that run so far.

Did Bitcoin’s 2021 Doubling Ride the Options Boom?

That 2021 stock boom grew from a post-Covid wave of new retail traders moving into derivatives, the Journal said.

Bitcoin more than doubled in that stretch, rising from about $29,000 at the end of 2020. It set an April record near $65,000.

Retail enthusiasm and Bitcoin’s run overlapped, though the data does not show one drove the other.

Retail sentiment is now comparable to 2021 levels, the Journal reported. The American Association of Individual Investors says 40.3% of surveyed investors expect higher stock prices within six months.

Why Is Bitcoin Missing the Retail Bid This Time?

Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s price action sits just under $84,000. U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) logged $65.40 million in net outflows on October 12, per crypto data tracker SoSoValue.

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) accounted for all of it. Bitcoin ETF inflows had totaled only about $232 million over 13 sessions through October 9, per SoSoValue.

Likewise, Ethereum (ETH) spot ETFs lost $85.39 million, extending their outflow streak to 10 consecutive days, per SoSoValue.

According to SoSoValue, U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs logged a total net outflow of $65.40 million on October 12 (EDT), led by BlackRock's IBIT with a net outflow of $65.40 million. Meanwhile, Ethereum spot ETFs recorded a total net outflow of $85.39 million yesterday, extending their… pic.twitter.com/RQwyG5j66Y

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) October 13, 2026

Analysts say 2026 retail flows are concentrating in a handful of stocks rather than spreading across the market. Even so, cautious investors are staying in equities, as a dividend ETF topped Charles Schwab clients’ September purchases.

Historically, retail trading has tended to rebound in October after a summer slowdown, Citadel Securities data indicates. Whether crypto funds capture any of that flow could decide if Bitcoin repeats its 2021 run.