As we approach the end of the week, the market is bracing for the expiry of around 107,000 Bitcoin options contracts, totaling a notional value of $6.6 billion. This end-of-month expiry event is significantly larger than the usual end-of-week expiries, signaling a possibility of increased market volatility. The put/call ratio for today’s BTC derivatives stands at 0.5, indicating that there are twice as many long (call) contracts expiring as shorts (puts).
Despite the looming expiration of Bitcoin options, bulls seem to be maintaining control in the market. There is more than $340 million in open interest at higher strike prices such as $70K, $75K, and $80K. This sentiment is further supported by the total open interest rising to $590 million at the $90K strike price and $770 million at the $100K strike price, as reported by Deribit. However, the month of June has been challenging for the crypto market as a whole, with BTC and ETH prices at one point nearing the max pain point, leading to a more pessimistic atmosphere among investors.
In addition to Bitcoin options, around a million Ethereum options are set to expire today. These contracts have a put/call ratio of 0.59, a max pain point of $3,100, and a notional value of $3.6 billion. This puts the total crypto options expiration notional value at over $10 billion, highlighting the significance of today’s expiry events.
Total market capitalization has seen a slight recovery from the dip earlier this week, hovering around the $2.4 trillion mark. However, the overall sentiment remains bearish, with markets exhibiting a downward trend throughout June. While Bitcoin briefly surpassed $62,000 on June 28, it has since retracted to $61,500 at the time of writing. The asset appears to be consolidating at this level following a dip below $60K on June 24. Similarly, Ethereum prices have recovered from a five-week low of $3,260 on Monday and have returned to $3,430.
The expiry of a large number of Bitcoin and Ethereum options contracts today has the potential to impact market volatility, with the put/call ratios and max pain points playing a significant role in determining the direction of price movements. Traders and investors will be closely monitoring these events to gauge the market sentiment and make informed decisions in the coming days.
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