Coinbase released a report from its BTC Practical Playbook this month identifying $82,000 as the critical resistance gate and $60,000 as the key support shelf for Bitcoin (BTC), with options market gamma exposure data suggesting that downside moves toward the lower level could accelerate violently while upside grinds toward $90,000 are more likely to stall and consolidate.
What Happened: Options Gamma Meets Key Levels
The report aggregated pivot points in market structure and volume into price bands, mapping where supply and demand have historically concentrated. The densest support cluster sits near $60,000, while the first dense resistance band hovers around $82,000.
Coinbase then layered gamma exposure — a measure of how options dealers must hedge when BTC moves — on top of those levels.
A pronounced negative gamma band in the $60,000–$70,000 region means dealer hedging could amplify a selloff rather than cushion it.
Positive gamma pockets at $85,000 and $90,000, by contrast, suggest that hedging flows would work against momentum and increase the odds of price "pinning" near those strikes.
The report outlined four tactical scenarios: a rejection at $82,000 favoring bearish option spreads, a breakout above $82,000 favoring call spreads into the $85,000–$90,000 zone, a flush to $60,000 followed by a reclaim favoring asymmetric long exposure, and a loss of $60,000 signaling a deeper regime break where protective put spreads become relevant.
Why It Matters: Hidden Liquidity Shapes Moves
Gamma exposure effectively turns the options market into a hidden liquidity provider that can either dampen or amplify price swings, according to the Coinbase report. In positive gamma environments, dealers buy dips and sell rallies, acting as a shock absorber that reduces realized volatility.
In negative gamma zones, the dynamic reverses — dealers buy into strength and sell into weakness, creating feedback loops that can turn routine pullbacks into liquidation cascades. The practical implication is that BTC's path to $60,000 carries structurally more risk of violent overshooting than the path to $90,000, where grinding consolidation is more probable.