The implication does not stop there. According to Imran Lakha, founder of Options Insights, dealers hold a “net long gamma exposure” above $70,000. It means the dealers, who strive to maintain market-neutral exposure while making money from the bid-ask spread, would short or sell into strength above 70,000 to stay neutral or hedged.

“That hedging acts like a brake, capping how fast BTC can run once it gets up there,” Lakha said, adding that ether (ETH) isn’t as exposed to dealer gamma dynamics and can rip much faster.

Bitcoin was recently changung hands near $64,100, down nearly 1% since midnight UTC. Other major cryptocurrencies, including ether, XRP (XRP) and solana (SOL) nursed similar losses, while Nasdaq 100 index futures fell…