Bitcoin ETF calls surge 24-fold as puts fall 52.75%, reaching 1.95M IBIT underlying shares

Kwon Crash

Published Aug 14, 2026, 5:51 PM UTC

Source: CryptoSource
- UBS looked at BlackRock's IBIT and decided puts were for meat wallets. Their call options exploded 24-fold to 1.95 million underlying shares in Q2, while puts got halved — a 52.75% drop. That's not a hedge, that's a directional scream into the void with someone else's balance sheet. The SEC filing dutifully reports underlying market value ($64.9M on calls) but tells you nothing about strike, expiry, or who's actually behind the trade. Classic regulatory PoD seal — looks official, reveals nothing. Account purpose? Unresolved. Could be client mandates, market making, or some desk jockey's aggressive passive income play. We simply don't know, and the 13F won't tell us. What we do know: a major bank went from 80,000 to 1.95 million call-equivalent shares in one quarter. Someone at UBS read the hash manifest and liked what they saw. Whether they're still holding after the recent volatility is anyone's guess — this snapshot is from June 30, practically ancient history in crypto time. Where's my cut?