Options expiries in the crypto market can create short-term pressure on prices, especially when large volumes are involved. The reason is simple: options writers may have an incentive to push the price toward the “max pain” level, where the largest number of contracts expire worthless. The $6.25 billion worth of Bitcoin options set to expire on Deribit on May 29 brings exactly this dynamic back into focus.
Bitcoin Market Turns Its Attention to May 29
The Bitcoin options market is focused on May 29. On Deribit, contracts worth a total of $6.25 billion will expire on that date, with open interest standing at 80,535 contracts. The numbers are large, but the key question is where the price will be pulled.
The level currently drawing the most attention is $75,000. This price corresponds to the “max pain” point, meaning the level at which the largest number of options contracts expire worthless and options writers face the least loss. According to Deribit data, there is a $394 million concentration of puts at the $75,000 strike. The picture is slightly different on the upside: $80,000 leads with $532 million in call positions.
Bitcoin is trading at around $77,250 at the time of writing. The max pain level sits about 3% below the current price. This gap matters from a technical perspective because large options writers have an incentive to minimize their losses by pushing the price toward $75,000. That is why the “max pain gravity” theory often comes back into discussion ahead of major Deribit expiries.
The put/call ratio stands at 0.86. In other words, there are 43,184 call contracts against 37,351 puts, showing that the market is net positioned for upside. Still, with Bitcoin trading in the $77,000-$78,000 range, max pain remains within reach.
Part of the market is much more optimistic. On Thursday, the most actively traded instrument on Deribit was the BTC 29MAY26 $82,000 call, with 1,600 contracts changing hands at a volume of around $126 million. This figure looks more like a directional bet than a hedging position. Traders appear to be positioning for a breakout before expiry. However, $82,000 is roughly 6% above the current price. To reach that level, Bitcoin first needs to break through the $80,000 wall, where there is also a heavy call concentration.
Deribit’s total open interest has reached $31.3 billion, surpassing BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF, IBIT, which stands at $27 billion. This is not a coincidence. Crypto options volume has grown systematically since 2025 as institutional participation has increased. Hedge funds and market makers are now actively using derivatives strategies alongside spot ETFs. If more open interest has accumulated on a crypto options exchange than in the world’s largest spot Bitcoin ETF, it is now clear that the derivatives market has reached a scale comparable to institutional products.
There are eight days left until May 29. If Bitcoin breaks above $82,000, the call side wins. If the price is pulled back toward $75,000, the max pain thesis will be validated. For now, the market is stuck between these two scenarios, and both remain on the table.
