Will Markets Break Resistance When $2B Crypto Options Expire Today?

Friday has rolled around again, and that means more Bitcoin and Ether options are expiring as spot markets hold on to recent gains. 

Around 22,200 Bitcoin options contracts will expire on Friday, April 17, with a notional value of roughly $1.66 billion. This event is a little smaller than last week’s expiry, so it is unlikely to have any impact on spot markets.

Crypto prices have been climbing slowly this week, with around $150 billion being added to total capitalization since Monday.

Bitcoin Options Expiry

This week’s batch of Bitcoin options contracts has a put/call ratio of 1, meaning that sellers of longs and shorts are evenly matched. Max pain is around $71,000, according to Coinglass, which is a little lower than current spot prices, so some could be out of the money on expiry.

Open interest (OI), or the value or number of Bitcoin options contracts yet to expire, remains highest at the $80,000 strike price on Deribit, with $1.5 billion as bullish bets take over, but bears still have $1.4 billion in OI at $60,000.

Total BTC options OI across all exchanges has been steadily climbing this month and is at $35.6 billion, according to Coinglass.

“Positioning has shifted from last week. BTC flipped from call-heavy to puts leading, while ETH OI grew week-on-week despite the broader market move,” commented Deribit.

https://twitter.com/DeribitOfficial/status/2044738734621655391?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw” target=”_blank

As the price of Bitcoin continues to rebound, “the IV [implied volatility] of major-term options is actually decreasing, while Skew is clearly skewed positively,” stated crypto derivatives provider Greeks Live this week.

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“The market has undergone a re-adjustment of its positional strategies, and the main participants have reached a consensus on the expected trends for the future – low volatility is becoming the prevailing trend in the market.”

In addition to today’s batch of Bitcoin options, around 196,000 Ethereum contracts are also expiring, with a notional value of $460 million, max pain at $2,225, and a put/call ratio of 0.91. Total ETH options OI across all exchanges is around $7.4 billion.

Spot Market Outlook

Total market capitalization is currently at a ten-week high of $2.64 trillion, but it is hitting resistance here as it did in mid-March. Bitcoin is hovering around resistance at $75,000 and has failed to make any progress above this key price zone.

Ethereum is ending the week in Asia around $2,345 after gaining 7% over the past seven days. The altcoins are generally mixed this Friday morning, with larger gains for XRP, Solana, Dogecoin, Cardano, and MemeCore, which has exploded 32%.