ETH's 2440 Put OI Doubles in a Day, But the Tape Can't Agree on Direction
ETH's 2440 put (5-Sep expiry, 0DTE) shows a paradox: open interest rose from 544 to 1281 contracts (+737, +135%) over 24h — the kind of move that usually signals a fresh directional bet. But the taker-side tape tells a different story, flipping repeatedly between buyer- and seller-dominant hour to hour.
| Bucket (UTC start) | Dominant side | Buyer aggression | Net premium USD |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14:00 | buyer | 0.90 | +195 |
| 01:00 | buyer | 1.00 | +899 |
| 02:00 | seller | 0.15 | -179 |
| 04:00 | seller | 0.00 | -9 |
| 08:00 | seller | 0.25 | -686 |
| 09:00 | buyer | 0.99 | +680 |
Across the full window: $2,191 bought vs $1,289 sold on 85 trades, netting +$901 — a mild buyer tilt (aggregate buyerAggression 0.63) that masks the intra-day whiplash. Zooming out to the 2400-2520 strip for the same expiry, put OI growth is broad (2400 +1059, 2460 +739, 2480 +735, 2440 +737) while call OI barely moves outside 2500 and 2520. The churn pattern on 2440P looks more like dealer inventory turnover ahead of 0DTE settlement than a single directional customer flow.