PANews reported on March 17th, citing CoinDesk, that Markus Thielen, founder of 10x Research, stated that the recent Bitcoin rally was primarily driven by a large number of put option sell orders with strike prices around $55,000 and $60,000. As these options neared expiration and became increasingly unlikely to be exercised, traders closed out these positions, forcing market makers to buy Bitcoin to rebalance their exposure, creating buying pressure that supported the price increase. Thielen noted that there has been no significant buying of call options yet, indicating that the rise is mainly driven by hedging rather than active bullish sentiment. Bitcoin briefly broke through $76,000 this morning, marking its first effective breakout of the long-term resistance zone of $73,750-$74,400 since 2024, boosting the overall crypto market.