Bitcoin traded slightly above $80,000 as $2.6 billion in crypto options were set to expire on Deribit, with traders bracing for near-term volatility. BTC again failed to retake $82,000 while ETH struggled around $2,300; at press time on May 15 BTC was $80,347.48, up 0.9% in 24 hours. The setup came after the U.S. Senate Banking Committee advanced the CLARITY Act in a 15-9 vote on May 14.

On 15 May 2026, Bitcoin reversed after topping at $81,664 and fell to $79,234, down 2.29% on the day. The peak stalled just below the daily SMA200 at $81,957 while $2.63B in BTC and ETH options expired at 08:00 UTC, with Deribit's BTC max pain marked at $80,000. RSI at 52.62 remained above 50 but sat 9.85 points under its 62.47 signal line, reflecting weakened momentum.

Quarterly 13F filings show Jane Street cut its Bitcoin ETF holdings by 71% in Q1 2025, while JPMorgan Chase reported a 174% increase. The disclosures are quarter-end snapshots as of March 31 and do not reflect intra-quarter trading. The split underscores that institutional positioning in Bitcoin ETFs remains uneven rather than unified.

Strategy said it now holds 818,869 Bitcoin, valued at about $66 billion at current prices. On Thursday, its Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock (STRC) posted $1.53 billion in trading volume, the highest single-day level on record. Data cited by the company suggests that activity could support an estimated $735 million raise, potentially funding about 9,066 BTC, though any purchase decision was not confirmed.

On May 15, 2026, on-chain data showed Bitcoin's exchange-held supply holding near an 8-year low at about 5.6%, while Ethereum's exchange supply moved higher to roughly 4.6% from 4.2% over the prior ten days. Netflow readings also differed, with BTC at -967.7 BTC and ETH at -14.2K ETH, following a May 10 ETH inflow spike of around 240K ETH.

Bitcoin has repeatedly failed to hold above $82,000, but analyst Michaël van de Poppe said on May 15 that BTC could still move toward $90,000 in the next few days. He pointed to a rebound from the 21-day moving average, which he described as key support since early April, while flagging $71,438 to $73,408 as a critical liquidity support zone.

Strategy said its STRC variable-rate perpetual preferred stock posted a record $1.53 billion in trading volume on May 14, finishing exactly at its $100 par value with only $0.02 of intraday movement. The company previously said STRC launched in late July 2025 and has expanded to $8.5 billion in under nine months. River data also links STRC proceeds to about 77,000 BTC of Strategy purchases in 2026 and notes the firm holds 818,869 bitcoin.

In Q1 2026, Bitcoin's average network hashrate fell from about 985 EH/s in Q4 2025 to 873 EH/s, even as several public miners reallocated fleets toward AI and HPC use cases. Across 10 large miners tracked, combined realized hashrate edged down from roughly 297 EH/s to 291 EH/s, masking sharp cuts at some firms and aggressive expansion at others.