Markets brace for $14.6 billion BTC, ETH options expiry on Deribit

Bitcoin and Ether options worth more than $14.6 billion are set to expire Friday on Deribit, the world’s largest crypto options ￰0￱ expiry comes as traders increase demand for Bitcoin downside protection following a steep market pullback, while Ether’s positioning appears more ￰1￱ to Deribit Metrics shared on X Monday, 56,452 Bitcoin call option contracts and 48,961 put option contracts are scheduled for settlement at the end of this business week. Together, they represent notional open interest worth $11.62 billion. 📊 August month-end expiry on Deribit (Friday): ~$15B notional set to roll ￰2￱ of the heaviest of 2025 so ￰3￱ much for the “quiet summer.” $BTC : $11.66B notional | Put/Call 0.88 | Max Pain $116K OI skewed put-heavy, concentrated at $110K–115K.

Calls distributed further… ￰4￱ — Deribit (@DeribitOfficial) August 25, 2025 The exchange’s data also showed that open interest (OI) is concentrated in puts at strike prices between $108,000 and $112,000, which is close to Bitcoin’s current market price at the time of this publication, consolidating around $110,000. There is an uptick in demand for near-the-money downside protection. Meanwhile, call options cluster at higher strikes of $120,000 and above, showing there are lingering hopes of an upside ￰5￱ Ether’s case , call options total 393,534 contracts compared with 291,128 puts, a notional open interest of $3.03 ￰6￱ activity appears in calls at strike prices of $3,800, $4,000, and $5,000.

On the put side, positions are most prominent at $4,000, $3,700, and $2,200. Neutral stance for ETH, protection for BTC Deribit expiry positioning shows a difference in sentiment between the two leading cryptocurrencies, where the majority of the market believes Bitcoin could be pulled down further. However, Ether’s price correction is not enough to definitively split the numbers between bulls and ￰7￱ and ETH open interest by strike price chart.