Long-term Bitcoin holders drive market lower with covered call tactics

Jeff Park, a prominent market analyst and investment manager currently serving as the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) at ProCap BTC, says that long-term Bitcoin holders, often referred to as “whales” or “OGs,” are increasingly selling covered calls. In this strategy, they sell call options against a large existing holding, such as BTC and ETH, to generate extra income or yield.

These options grant the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to purchase an asset at a predetermined price in the future, while the seller retains a profit. Park argued that this practice gives rise to a drastic drop in the price of spot BTC.

Park blames BTC OGs for recent price declines in the crypto market 

Regarding Park’s argument, sources highlighted that these major Bitcoin holders establish substantial sell-side pressure via their covered call strategy. On the other hand, they noted that market makers, who play a significant role in purchasing these covered calls, are on the other side of this trade.

Therefore, this calls for an urgency for them to safeguard themselves by engaging in activities such as selling spot BTC to cover their position. This, in turn, lowers market prices, although analysts discovered a deep interest from traditional ETF investors.

Meanwhile, recent reports have revealed that the BTC designed to support these options has been held for several years and does not demonstrate the presence of new demands or fresh liquidity in the market. As a result, these calls bring about a reduction in prices.

To further elaborate on this point, Park mentioned that, “When you already own Bitcoin that you’ve had for over 10 years and start selling calls against it, only the act of selling calls adds new delta to the market—and that delta is negative—so you end up being a net seller of delta when you sell calls.” 

His analysis suggested that the option market has a significant influence on the price of Bitcoin. He also suggested that there is a high likelihood that this price will continue to fluctuate as long as whales continue to make short-term profits, particularly from their BTC holdings by selling covered calls. 

Meanwhile, it is worth noting that the cryptocurrency separated from the stock market in the latter half of 2025. At this time, some analysts expressed their belief that Bitcoin is closely tied to tech stocks. Moreover, while stocks continued to reach their highest point, BTC significantly declined to approximately $90,000. 

Analysts express their belief that Bitcoin will begin to rise again 

Several analysts have shared their forecasts that Bitcoin will begin to surge again when the US Federal Reserve continues to implement interest rate cuts and allocate additional funds into the financial system. According to them, this move could indicate a positive sign for risky investments. 

Following their prediction, data from CME Group’s FedWatch tool indicated that approximately 24.4% of traders anticipated that the US Federal Reserve could consider another rate cut at the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting scheduled for January next year.

However, some analysts speculated that BTC might experience a decline to reach a record low of $76,000, arguing that its upward trend has already come to an end.

The analysts made this assumption after trader Roman, with the username @Roman_Trading, shared an X post on Thursday of this week, publicly displaying his recent analysis and informing his followers to prepare for an additional 17% decline in Bitcoin’s price.

Following his statement, sources acknowledged that BTC/USD  has been facing difficulties in bouncing back after reaching its recent lows close to $80,000. They argued that instead, it is moving within a channel that slopes upwards. 

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