ETH returns historically lag Bitcoin's in October, but analysts see signs that trend could change
Historically, ETH's average returns have lagged Bitcoin's in October. However, QCP Capital analysts have noted bullish indicators suggesting that many derivatives traders believe ETH has the potential to break its underperformance trend.
"Historically, October is a strong month for Bitcoin, with an average gain of 22.9% over 8 of the past 9 years," QCP Capital analysts noted. "ETH also tends to perform well, but its average return for October is about 5%," they added.
Despite the possibility that the second-largest digital asset could lag Bitcoin this month, there are signs of bullishness for ether in the near term. "We saw a significant amount of October ether call options being bought this morning," QCP Capital said, pointing to derivatives market indicators. Looking at the current market structure, there are now over 63,600 ether call option contracts, with a notional value of $167 million, expiring on Oct. 11. Another 26,200 call option contracts, worth $69 million, expire on Oct. 18, according to data from Deribit.
ETH call options with a strike price of $2,800 expiring on Oct. 11 have seen the highest trading volume over the past 24 hours.
Notably, both the Oct. 11 and Oct. 18 expiries show a significantly lower amount of put options
This disparity indicates bullish sentiment among many traders, who appear to be betting on the price of ETH breaking above the $2,800 mark by the expiry date
The increased demand for these call options reflects growing short-term optimism
