Bitcoin (BTC) traders are becoming increasingly optimistic and are targeting the $95,000 level in the near future as the world’s top cryptocurrency remains undeterred above the $90,000 level. Even with a relatively flat showing throughout the entire crypto market in the last 24 hours, BTC’s strength has renewed sparks of optimism between traders and investors.
On Friday morning in Asian time, Bitcoin stood at just under $93,000, sustaining gains earlier this week after some brief consolidation. Singapore-based cryptocurrency trading firm QCP Capital indicates that the market is experiencing more activity in call options at the $95,000 strike price, with the expiries in late April and May. This indicates significant tactical demand for additional upside across market participants.
“Call options at $95K strikes for end-April and end-May expiries have dominated flow, pointing to a tactical appetite for further upside,” QCP Capital noted in a Telegram broadcast.
To put this in perspective, call options are financial instruments that give the buyer the right to buy an underlying asset at a predetermined price prior to a predetermined expiration date. An increase in call option buying — particularly at higher strike prices — generally indicates market players’ expectation that the asset will move above that level. Here, traders are indicating optimism that Bitcoin may move above $95,000 in weeks.
Nonetheless, in spite of the positive sentiment, QCP Capital has cautioned that a certain amount of caution needs to be applied since the market continues to be heavily dictated by macroeconomic themes. “As macro risks are temporarily suppressed and trade tensions have cooled, BTC will probably consolidate within a tight $90K–$94.5K range while waiting for a decisive push towards the elusive $100K level,” the firm continued.
Bitcoin’s recent price action is taking place in the midst of no substantial negative macroeconomic catalysts. Global trade tensions, which had been previously fuelling volatility in risk assets such as cryptocurrencies, seem to be easing off. Inflation fears, central bank policy changes, and geopolitical tensions are also largely stable, giving digital assets some relief.
Throughout the wider crypto space, larger altcoins were mostly unchanged during the last day. XRP and BNB Chain’s BNB had minimal movement, continuing a trend of low volatility throughout the week. Solana (SOL) recorded a minor increase of 2%, whereas Dogecoin (DOGE) and Cardano (ADA) recorded higher increases of over 4%. Shiba Inu (SHIB), the meme coin which tends to trend in line with wider retail sentiment, surged 5%.
In contrast, the CoinDesk 20 index, which follows the top 20 most liquid and widely traded cryptocurrency assets, recorded a 1.2% increase, which indicated a modest but widespread market recovery.
One top performer in the altcoin sector is still Sui Network’s SUI token, which took its multiday surge into Friday. The token has now surged more than 62% over the last week on the strength of several bullish developments in its ecosystem.
One of the key drivers of the surge is the imminent launch of a payment card by ecosystem partner xPortal, which will operate on the Mastercard network. The tie-up is being viewed as a big move towards enhancing the real-world utility of the Sui blockchain, driving adoption and investor sentiment.
The health of Sui’s ecosystem is also evident in its on-chain metrics. Figures from DefiLlama, a DeFi analytics platform, show that Total Value Locked (TVL) on the Sui Network has been well over $1.6 billion, a figure more than 9% up in the last 24 hours alone. This is the total value of assets deposited or staked in DeFi applications within the network, and an expanding TVL tend to prove evidence of rising user activity and protocol confidence.
Moreover, decentralized exchange (DEX) trading on the Sui blockchain is booming. The network’s DEX platforms had a 24-hour trading volume of $599 million, reflecting a whopping 35% week-over-week increase. Such growth puts Sui among the highest-performing layer-1 blockchains currently, drawing interest from investors and developers alike.
This multi-day rally in SUI highlights a broader trend within crypto markets — the increasing relevance of utility-led price action. Instead of merely being driven by speculative mania, projects such as Sui are seeing price appreciation on the back of concrete ecosystem growth and product development.
While Bitcoin looks to make a short-term breakout and altcoins keep in a solid up trend, the next leg of crypto price action will likely rest on the issuance of new economic data and regulatory news. Specifically, market players will likely look to follow news regarding U.S. interest rate policy, ETF flows, and central bank action abroad for hints at risk attitude.
In the near term, though, the market is set to break out if BTC breaks decisively above the $95,000 handle. A continuous move above could trigger momentum trading towards the much-awaited psychological level of $100,000, a level which has continued to evade despite numerous bullish cycles over the last few years.
For the time being, traders are closely observing the options market for indications — and the prevailing flow indicates that most are positioning themselves for additional upside. Whether Bitcoin delivers on those expectations is yet to be seen, but one thing is certain: optimism is once again in play, and the bulls are placing big bets.
