Massive $14.6B Bitcoin and Ether Options Expiry Shows Bias for Bitcoin Protection

Bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) options worth over $14.6 billion are set to expire Friday on Deribit in what's shaping up to be one of the most significant derivative events of ￰0￱ expiry is heavily skewed toward BTC put options, underscoring a continued demand for downside protection, whereas it's more balanced for ￰1￱ of the time of writing, 56,452 BTC call option contracts and 48,961 put option contracts were due for settlement, totalling a notional open interest of $11.62 billion, according to data source Deribit ￰2￱ is the world's largest crypto options exchange, accounting for 80% of the global ￰3￱ Deribit, one option contract represents one BTC or ETH.

A closer look at open interest reveals concentrated activity in put options with strike prices between $108,000 and $112,000. Conversely, the most popular call options are clustered at $120,000 and ￰4￱ other words, near-the-money puts around BTC's current market price of approximately $110,000 are highly sought after, while calls with higher strike prices reflect hopes for further ￰5￱ ether's case, a total of 393,534 calls are due for settlement, outstripping the put tally of 291,128 by a significant margin, both totaling $3.03 billion in notional open ￰6￱ OI is concentrated in calls at strikes $3,800, $4,000 and $5,000, and put options at strikes $4,000, $3,700 and $2,200.

"BTC expiry points to persistent demand for downside protection, while ETH looks more ￰7￱ with Powell’s Jackson Hole signal, this expiry may help set the market tone for September," Deribit said on ￰8￱ are derivative contracts that give the purchaser the right to buy or sell the underlying asset at a predetermined price on or before a specified future date. A call option gives the right to buy and represents a bullish bet on the market. meanwhile, a put option provides insurance against price ￰9￱ options market has grown leaps and bounds since 2020, with monthly and quarterly settlements gaining prominence as major market-moving ￰10￱ 2021, some observers proposed that prices tend to gravitate toward 'max pain' levels – the strike prices where options holders suffer the greatest losses – in the days leading up to expiry.

However, the validity of this theory remains a matter of debate among traders and ￰11￱ of writing, the max pain levels for bitcoin and ether are 116,000 and $3,800, respectively, serving as focal points for believers of the max pain ￰12￱ more: Ether, Dogecoin, Bitcoin Plunge Sees $900M in Bullish Bets Liquidated