How Will Crypto Markets React to $1.9B Bitcoin Options Expiring Today?

Another Friday is upon us again, which means another batch of Bitcoin options are expiring as the asset holds ground above $70,000. 

Around 26,700 Bitcoin options contracts will expire on Friday, April 10, with a notional value of roughly $1.9 billion. This event is smaller than usual and very similar to last week’s expiry, so it is unlikely to have any impact on spot markets.

Crypto prices have been climbing slowly this week, with around $90 billion being added to total capitalization since Monday.

Bitcoin Options Expiry

This week’s batch of Bitcoin options contracts has a put/call ratio of 0.71, meaning that there are more longs than shorts expiring. Max pain is around $69,000, according to Coinglass, which is lower than current spot prices, so many could be out of the money on expiry.

Open interest (OI), or the value or number of Bitcoin options contracts yet to expire, remains highest at the $80,000 strike price on Deribit, with $1.6 billion as bullish bets now become dominant.

Total BTC options OI across all exchanges has fallen back following the end of the Q1 expiry event and is currently $34 billion.

“A fragile truce to parry grotesque rhetoric rallied markets with a sense of relief,” stated Deribit this week.

Traders bought short-term BTC call options and various call structures while selling or rolling put options, moving them to strike prices higher to reflect the new, more optimistic price level.

“Judging by key options indicators, the rebound above $70,000 has clearly boosted market sentiment, primarily by alleviating fears of a black swan-induced crash, rather than reflecting expectations of sustained price gains,” commented Greeks Live.

In addition to today’s batch of Bitcoin options, around 151,500 Ethereum contracts are also expiring, with a notional value of $332 million, max pain at $2,050, and a put/call ratio of 0.77. Total ETH options OI across all exchanges is around $6.6 billion. CryptoQuant analyst “Darkfost’ said that Ether derivatives were showing signs of recovery.

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“Despite a persistently uncertain macro environment, several signals point to a gradual improvement in Ethereum, particularly on the derivatives side.”

This brings the total notional value of crypto options expiries to around $2.2 billion in a small expiry event this week.

Spot Market Outlook

Total cap was back over $2.5 trillion on Friday morning in Asia as Bitcoin had reclaimed the $72,000 level. The asset has gained 8.4% over the past seven days but remains rangebound with heavy resistance just above current price levels.

Ethereum prices were also holding on to this week’s gains, trading at just under $2,200 at the time of writing. The altcoins were generally flat on the day, and most of them remained at bear market lows.