Bitcoin’s weekend rally faces a $66k trap as traders still hedge for another drop

Bitcoin climbed back above $62,000 once a weak US jobs report cooled bets on a near-term Federal Reserve rate hike, and the spot chart reads as a relief rally. The options desks trading Bitcoin’s futures are pricing something more guarded.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics put June payroll growth at just 57,000, well below the 110,000 economists polled had penciled in.

Labor-force participation slid to 61.5%, the government cut April and May payrolls by a combined 74,000, and unemployment held steady at 4.2%.

The dollar was on track for its biggest weekly drop since early April, while CME FedWatch data showed roughly a 45% chance of a September hike once the numbers landed.

A softer dollar and lower odds of a hike gave crypto buyers the macro setup they wanted heading into the July 4 weekend.

Options traders are still hedged, with Bitcoin puts trading at a premium to call options on Deribit, with the one-week 25-delta put-call skew near 16%. That’s down from 25% ten days earlier, evidence that the panic has eased.

The premium shows hedging money crouched on the sidelines, ready to redeploy if Bitcoin slips.

Laevitas data flagged a large Bitcoin options block on July 17. The structure is a long call-option condor, built from long positions at $64,000 and $70,000 against short strikes at $66,000 and $68,000.

In plain terms, that trade pays off most if Bitcoin climbs, but only into the $66,000 to $68,000 band by expiration. Push past that range, or fall short of it, and the position loses value. The structure gives the weekend a visible range to watch, and works as a soft ceiling on how far this rebound can run before it meets resistance from someone else’s book.

US equity markets closed on July 3 for Independence Day, so the NYSE’s calendar keeps most desks shut through the long weekend, layering thin liquidity atop options positioning that’s already capping the move.

Crypto trades around the clock regardless of the holiday, and channels that usually confirm its moves, such as ETF volume, equity correlation, and deep futures books, go quiet when Wall Street steps away.

That leaves options positioning carrying more of the weight in showing where price goes next, with fewer traditional-market checks available in real time.

Where the condor pays off

If Bitcoin holds above $62,000 through Saturday and Sunday, thin holiday liquidity could work in its favor as much as it could work against it.

That would amplify the bounce and push spot toward the $66,000 to $68,000 band where the call condor sits. That band runs roughly 6% to 9% above the current spot, near $62,100.

Trading within that range would match with what large options money already expects, while a clean push through $68,000 on real volume would convert the squeeze into an actual breakout and clear the ceiling built into someone else’s math.

Anything short of that, a stall inside the band, or a fade once order books thicken on Monday, leaves the rebound as just a squeeze.

Where the skew is right

A rejection near $66,000 or a fresh break below $60,000 would flip the setup entirely. Either move would confirm what the elevated put skew has been pricing since before the jobs report.

Losing $60,000 also reopens the low-$57,000s, about 8% under the current spot and a zone Bitcoin already tested during its second-quarter pullback.

The same thin weekend books that can fuel a squeeze higher can just as easily speed up a drop once stop orders start clearing.

Bitcoin’s climb back above $62,000 is genuine, and so is the caution sitting underneath it. Weak jobs data gave the dollar a reason to soften and the Fed a reason to wait, enough to keep a bid under crypto through a holiday weekend.

One large options structure shaping a $66,000 to $68,000 range still leaves the lows open. Whichever way Bitcoin trades by Sunday night, the outcome will say more about who hedged correctly.