Gate Research: Implied Volatility Near Two-Year High; 24H Bullish Call Spreads Dominate Options Flow

According to Gate Research Institute, current implied volatility (IV) stands at approximately 53% for BTC and 73% for ETH. BTC IV is now around the 90th percentile of the past year, indicating a notable rise in short-term volatility expectations in the options market. Over the past week, the 25-delta skew for both BTC and ETH has remained in negative territory. Although short-dated skew widened sharply amid event-driven volatility and has since partially normalized, the overall structure still reflects a bearish bias.
From a GEX perspective, the area around 70K lies in negative gamma territory, where market makers’ hedging tends to amplify price moves through pro-cyclical “buy high, sell low” dynamics, increasing short-term volatility. In the past 24 hours, block trades in BTC and ETH options have been predominantly bullish. The largest BTC structure was a Mar 27, 2026 135K call bought versus 96K call sold, totaling approximately 1,400 BTC, with a net premium received of about $230,000. For ETH, the largest trade was a Feb 27, 2026 3200 call purchase totaling around 2,250 ETH, with a net premium paid of roughly $20,000.
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