Opinion: Bitcoin Volatility Regresses, Options Market Indicates Short-Term Sentiment Recovery but Tilts Towards Range-Bound Consolidation

On May 8, Glassnode released a report noting Bitcoin recently broke above a key resistance level to hit the $82k-$83k range — escaping the narrow trading range it’s occupied for weeks and reigniting market volatility. Option data shows short-term implied volatility (IV) has jumped sharply: the 1-week IV is up ~6 volatility points from its lows, while long-term term structure changes remain muted. This signals short-term trading demand is rebounding fast. On the sentiment and positioning front: the 25-delta skew (a metric tracking whether markets fear downside more than they crave upside in options) is moving toward neutrality. The short-end skew even rebounded to ~5% put premium after briefly balancing out, though overall downside hedging demand is fading. Notably, skew shows divergence: short-term bias remains tilted toward downside, but longer-term structure is gradually shifting bullish — a sign markets are starting to reprice upward expectations. Structurally, IV has risen faster than realized volatility (RV), pushing the volatility risk premium (VRP) back into positive territory. Meanwhile, ~$2 billion in short gamma is concentrated near $82k — a setup that could amplify price swings. Option flow has also shifted to profit-taking: bullish option selling made up 81% of total flows in the past 24 hours. All told, this points to markets favoring consolidation over a deep pullback.