Cryptocurrency markets have faced a challenging week, with the significant players experiencing a downturn. An impending derivatives expiry event is now in focus, and market participants wonder if it will bring a much-needed shift.
On October 13, approximately 24,000 Bitcoin options contracts, valued at around $640 million, are set to expire. What’s worth noting is that this week’s options expiry is about 50% larger than the previous week’s. The expiration of 24,000 BTC options comes with a Put-Call Ratio of 1.23 and a maximum pain point of $27,000.
In addition to Bitcoin, approximately 190,000 Ethereum options are nearing their expiration. These contracts have a Put-Call Ratio of 0.71, a maximum pain point of $1,600, and a notional value of $290 million. What’s significant about the Ethereum contracts is their put/call ratio of 0.71, indicating that more calls are being sold as ETH remains under bearish pressure.
Bitcoin continues to maintain its dominance in the market, with weekly positions in BTC options rising by nearly 70% this week. Interestingly, BTC Put positions comprise 60% of the total positions, a relatively uncommon occurrence. On the other hand, Ethereum is struggling to gain momentum.
Greeks Live wrote on X, “IVs across all major terms remain at all-time lows with no sign of a rebound, and with liquidity continuing to deteriorate of late, the big one looks to be getting closer.”
In June this year, about 150,000 BTC options contracts, worth roughly $4.5 billion, and 1.2 million ether contracts, valued at $2.3 billion, expired on the significant cryptocurrency options exchange, Deribit. Back then, the most valuable cryptocurrency traded without much change stayed in a narrow price range and only made a 1% gain, reaching $30,700. Now, investors are eagerly observing to see if we’ll see a repeat of that pattern as these options contracts approach their expiry once again.
