ETF inflows go green, chips go red: Bitcoin options hedge the $80,000 downside

Bitcoin ($BTC) slipped 0.5% to around $81,400 since midnight UTC on Tuesday despite U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds attracting $526.6 million on Monday, their largest daily inflow in nearly a month. Bitcoin traded at $81,332.05. The CoinDesk report by Oliver Knight, edited by Sheldon Reback, was published Oct 20, 2026, 6:22 a.m. EDT.

South Korea’s Kospi index fell 3.73% to its lowest close since April 7, with SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics declining as renewed worries over AI spending weighed on chipmakers’ shares. Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.31%. Brent crude was near $110 a barrel as Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia kept supply risks in view. Roughly 70 S&P 500 companies are set to report earnings this week, with General Motors before the bell and United Airlines after the close.

Altcoin losses were broadly in line with Bitcoin. Ether ($ETH) was $2,397.70 and fell 0.9% to near $2,385. The CoinDesk 80 (CD80) lost 0.34%, while the bitcoin-heavy CoinDesk 5 (CD5) dropped 0.33%. CoinDesk’s DeFi index (DFX) fell 1.2%, the weakest of the CoinDesk benchmarks.

Bitcoin open interest on Coinalyze fell to $27.4 billion, down 0.6% over 24 hours, while the aggregated funding rate was roughly 8.8% annualized. CoinDesk said Ether’s funding of about 3.9% annualized suggested a bullish bias among traders. Longs held around 55% of Bitcoin positions, with a long/short ratio of 1.24. Binance’s top traders showed a similar tilt, with a BTC-USDT position ratio of 1.78 on CoinGlass.

On Deribit, puts outtraded calls by more than two to one over 24 hours, with the Oct. 30 $80,000 put the busiest contract. Out-of-the-money puts cost more than equivalent calls by 2.5 to 4 volatility points across expiries, a bearish skew that showed traders paying for downside protection. Open interest leaned toward calls at $90,000-$100,000 for Oct. 30. CoinGlass showed $155.1 million of liquidations over 24 hours, down 54.7% from the previous day, with longs accounting for about 69% of liquidations.