Bitcoin options investors appear to be leaning toward downside protection to prepare for near-term uncertainty.

On June 25 (local time), blockchain media outlet Cointelegraph reported that David Rowntree (데이비드 로완트), head of research at Anchorage Digital, said in a recent analysis that both crypto-native investors and exchange-traded fund (ETF) investors are increasing demand for downside hedges.

The analysis examined the options markets for Deribit, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and Strategy (MSTR) together. Anchorage Digital said looking across the three markets allows it to read sentiment among crypto-native investors, institutions and retail investors more broadly than a single options market.

The key is a defensive position in the Bitcoin options market. Put skew was high in both the Deribit and IBIT options markets. That means investors are paying more premium for downside protection rather than betting on further gains. The level of defensive positioning was in the 82nd percentile in IBIT history and the 84th percentile in Deribit's five-year history.

The short-term volatility structure also showed uneasy sentiment. In the Bitcoin options market, one-week implied volatility has been higher than one-month implied volatility for nearly half of 2026 so far. Anchorage Digital explained that such inversions used to appear intermittently and briefly, but this year attention has focused on short-term risks as macroeconomic and geopolitical factors, along with crypto-specific catalysts, followed one after another.

Rowntree said the market is still focused on managing near-term risks rather than making clear directional bets. He said he is watching whether one-month implied volatility again exceeds one-week implied volatility, adding that such a shift could signal the market is starting to look beyond immediate risks to a longer horizon.

However, the options market was analyzed as not reflecting an extreme downside scenario despite recent weakness in Strategy's preferred and common shares. Strategy’s perpetual preferred STRC fell as low as $82.53 on June 22, about 17 percent below its $100 par value, and then recovered partly after the company disclosed it increased its fiat currency reserves to $1.3 billion. As of June 25, STRC was trading at about $77, around 23 percent below par.

The weakness also extended to the common shares. Based on Yahoo Finance tallies, Strategy common shares MSTR have fallen about 78 percent over the past year and were trading around $87 on June 25.

Even so, stress levels in the Strategy options market were lower than in past correction phases. Anchorage Digital judged that while investors continue to hedge downside risks, put skew has not risen to levels that appear when fears of forced deleveraging or a broader crisis are being reflected.

This trend shows investors in both Bitcoin and Strategy are prioritising defence over optimism. But with options prices around Strategy remaining at limited risk management rather than a full-blown crisis, the market is wary of the chance of a short-term shock while not treating the worst-case scenario as a given.

Ultimately, the market has turned to whether the options market shifts from short-term defence to a medium-term horizon, and what impact Strategy’s share weakness will have on Bitcoin-related investment sentiment. At the same time, the fact that Strategy-related options prices did not reflect an extreme crisis suggests the market is distinguishing between share-price weakness and systemic risk.