Nearly $2.4B in Bitcoin and Ether Options Expire Amid Volatility

Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) options markets are having an important moment today as over $2.4 billion worth of contracts expire. This marks another major expiration in 2026, while over $2.2 billion of contracts expired earlier this year on January 2. 

According to Greeks.live, a prominent options trader on X, nearly 21,000 BTC options expired with a put-call ratio of 1.07, indicating slightly higher bearish sentiment. The maximum pain point for Bitcoin is $90,000, with the notional value of the expired contracts of BTC at $1.9 billion. 

For Ether, there were 126,000 ETH options that expired with a put-to-call ratio of 0.88, a pain point of $3,100, and a total notional value of $390 million. This is roughly 7% of the open interest, having moderate market impact compared with the last few cycles.

Bitcoin and Ether have bounced back after last week’s sharp drops following the year-end settlements. Bitcoin briefly dipped below $89,500 on Thursday but quickly recovered to around $90,681. Ether has stayed above $3,000, trading at $3,116 as of writing, according to CoinMarketCap. 

With the recent selling pressure slowing down, traders are feeling more confident. Many are now placing bets on month-end options, mainly choosing Bitcoin calls and Ether puts, which shows they expect prices to stay stable in the near future.

Bitcoin options show diverse interest

As shown on Deribit, there is substantial trading activity on the strike levels for Bitcoin. The call options are largely concentrated at higher strike levels, with the maximum open interest at $102,000. The puts, on the other hand, are concentrated between $70,000 and $86,000.

The current open interest is at 291,320 contracts, with call options being 166,231, while put options are at 125,088. The put to call ratio is at 0.75, indicating that there is greater interest in calls, while BTC implied volatility is also at 40% with little movement since Christmas.

Ether options skew toward bullish bets

Ether’s options market is showing a similar trend to Bitcoin but leans more on the bullish side. According to Deribit, there are about 1.5 million contracts in total, with roughly 935,000 calls and 570,000 puts. 

The total value of these contracts reaches around $4.64 billion, and the put-call ratio of 0.61 suggests traders are generally optimistic. Most of the call activity is concentrated around the $5,500 and $6,500 levels, showing that many traders expect Ether prices to rise toward these points.

Notably, interest revolves around $3,000 due to significant levels of downside support. Interestingly, ETH implied volatility has come down to 55%, indicating less turbulent market activity compared to end-of-year market dynamics. Also, block trades comprise more than 70% of overall market activity, which clearly reveals robust positioning activity.

CME expands options flexibility

While options trading in crypto mostly centers around Bitcoin and Ether, the market is now seeing a shift for other altcoins as well. CME Group is upgrading Solana and XRP options starting March 2. With this launch, traders will get more strike price choices and smaller price steps, making it easier to manage trades precisely. Both standard and micro options will see wider strike ranges earlier on, with tighter price increments as contracts near expiration. 

For XRP, strike spacing tightens up to 60 days before expiry, while Solana options will narrow to $0.50 increments near expiration. In each case, CME seeks to support detailed trading strategies of both retail and institutional investors.

Also Read: Cathie Wood Says 2025 Marked a ‘Before and After’ Moment for Bitcoin

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