With crypto options set to expire today, there’s speculation about whether the current stability in spot markets will shift. On Friday, August 23, roughly 18,400 Bitcoin options contracts, valued at approximately $1.1 billion, are due to expire.
Compared to last week’s event, today’s options expiry is smaller, suggesting it may have a limited effect on spot markets. However, next week’s larger expiry, with a notional value of $3.5 billion, could have a more significant impact.
Bitcoin Options Expiry
This week’s Bitcoin options have a put/call ratio of 0.83, indicating a near balance between long (call) and short (put) positions, with a slight preference for calls. The “max pain” point, where the greatest financial losses occur, is set at $60,000, which is close to the current market price.
Open interest remains substantial at strike prices above $70,000, with about $967 million in contracts still open at the $100,000 strike price. This shows that some investors are still hoping for a significant increase in Bitcoin’s price.
According to crypto derivatives platform Greeks Live, recent macroeconomic factors have had little effect on the market. They also pointed out that historical volatility in cryptocurrencies continues to decline, along with a reduced expectation of future volatility in the options market.
Crypto Market Outlook
Given the smaller scale of today’s expiry event and the current market stability, major price shifts are unlikely unless unexpected developments arise from the Fed’s speech at Jackson Hole today.
The overall crypto market capitalization remains steady at $2.24 trillion, though it has been on a gradual decline since mid-March. Bitcoin has stayed above $60,000 over the past 24 hours, trading at $60,654 at the time of writing. Ethereum has gained 1.2%, trading at $2,634 during Friday’s early Asian trading session.
Most altcoins are seeing gains, with Binance Coin (BNB), Avalanche (AVAX), and Near Protocol (NEAR) leading the market.
