BTC is trading roughly $9,000 below its max pain level as a major options batch expires today following a week marked by heavy liquidations.
Deribit, one of the leading exchanges in the crypto derivatives market, announced that around $1.81 billion worth of crypto options contracts will expire today at 11:00 a.m. Turkey time. Coming right after a week of sustained selling pressure and more than $1.5 billion in liquidations, this expiry represents a double layer of stress for market participants.
BTC options: $1.56 billion
Most of the expiring contracts are tied to Bitcoin. The total notional value of BTC options stands at $1.56 billion. The put/call ratio is 0.56, clearly showing a call-heavy structure, with long-position sellers far outpacing the short side.
Max pain, the price point where options writers make the lowest payout and the largest number of contracts expire worthless, is at $71,000. BTC spot is currently trading roughly $9,000 below that level. If the expiry closes under these conditions, a large portion of contracts will end out of the money.
According to Deribit data, the highest concentration of open interest is at the $80,000 strike price, with $1.6 billion. The short side is not silent either: there is still $1.1 billion in OI at $60,000. Coinglass figures show that total BTC options OI across all exchanges has recently declined to around $31.6 billion.
ETH options: $252 million
The Ethereum side presents a slightly different picture. Around 153,500 contracts will expire today, with a notional value of $252 million. Max pain stands at $2,000, while the put/call ratio is 0.97, almost perfectly neutral. On the ETH side, neither bulls nor bears have established a clear advantage. Total ETH options OI across all exchanges is hovering around $5.7 billion.
After a bloody week
This expiry comes at the end of an extremely painful week for the crypto market. More than $300 billion was wiped from the market’s total value over the week. Bitcoin briefly fell below $62,000, while $1.5 billion in liquidations left both long and short position holders with heavy losses.
Derivatives analytics platform Greeks Live said that bears became more aggressive after the price broke below $70,000, with a notable increase in put positions at the $68,000, $65,000 and $60,000 levels.
Geopolitical tensions continue to add pressure. The military conflict between the United States and Iran has not been resolved in recent weeks, while global inflationary pressures have started to resurface. In this environment, risk appetite remains fragile, and institutional investors are keeping their hedging positions in place.
Market impact
Although the figure sounds large, analysts describe this expiry as a “relatively small event.” The $1.85 billion volume, which is far below last week’s month-end expiry package, is not expected to trigger a significant move in spot markets.
Still, BTC spot trading this far below the max pain level cannot be ignored. During expiry periods, prices are often seen moving toward max pain. Whether that dynamic plays out this week will become clear within the next few hours.
