Key Highlights
- $6.32 billion worth of Bitcoin options are set to expire on Deribit on Friday, August 28, with 78,595.86 contracts in open interest.
- The expiry has a put/call ratio of 0.49, with calls representing $3.19 billion in notional value and puts accounting for $3.12 billion.
- The contracts will expire at 8:00 a.m. UTC on August 28, using a 30-minute time-weighted average of the relevant Deribit Index for settlement.
Bitcoin (BTC) is heading into Friday with a sizable derivatives event on the calendar, as options contracts with a combined notional value of $6.32 billion are scheduled to expire on August 28, on the Deribit exchange.
Data from Coinglass (on August 27 at 4:05 pm UTC) shows total open interest of 78,595.86 contracts for the expiry. Call options account for 39,718.06 contracts with a notional value of $3.19 billion and a market value of $270.93 million. Put options total 38,877.8 contracts with a notional value of $3.12 billion and a market value of $1.09 million. The put/call ratio stands at 0.49.
The chart displays puts in red and calls in green, along with market value and notional value overlays.
Max Pain and strike distribution
The max-pain price stands at $69,000, substantially below Bitcoin’s current market price. Open interest data by strike price indicates concentrations of both puts and calls around that level and higher strikes. At the $69,000 strike, puts total 1.13K contracts and calls total 2.14K contracts. The puts market value at that strike is $9.09K, while the calls’ market value is $24.75K. The notional value at $69,000 is $263.15 million.
Open interest appears across a range of strikes from approximately $40,000 to above $100,000, with visible put open interest more prominent at lower strikes and call open interest more prominent at higher strikes.
The expiration comes under Deribit contract introduction policy, which states that its weekly and monthly cryptocurrency options expire at 8:00 a.m. UTC, and August 28 falls on the final Friday of the month, making it the monthly expiration date. Delivery for the expiring contracts uses a 30-minute time-weighted average price of the relevant Deribit Index calculated from 07:30 to 08:00 UTC.
Deribit options are European-style and cash-settled. Positions are automatically exercised if in the money at expiry, with settlement occurring in the margin currency based on the delivery price.
Market maker perspective on expiration dynamics
In an exclusive statement shared with The Crypto Times, Martin Lee, Market Insights Lead at DWF Labs, noted that approximately $6.4 billion of Bitcoin options settle on Deribit on Friday, with max pain near $69,000 and the spot price about 13 percent above it. Most open interest is in calls, so desks that sold them have been buying spot to remain hedged as the price rose.
That buying reflects hedging obligations rather than a directional view and has contributed to the recent move. The timing differs because those hedges come off in the morning, after which core PCE data and the Fed chair’s Jackson Hole speech arrive.
The larger event remains the September quarterly expiry, which carries around 65 percent more open interest and coincides with the Senate’s procedural vote on the market structure bill and the Fed decision.
Federal Reserve Event follows after expiry
Six hours after the options expiry, Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the 2026 Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium. The speech is set for 10:00 a.m. EDT, or 2:00 p.m. UTC, according to the Federal Reserve’s official calendar of public appearances.
The symposium runs from August 27 to 29 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, under the theme “Financial Innovation: Implications for Payments and Policy.” The keynote will be livestreamed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
Kevin Warsh became the 17th Chair of the Federal Reserve earlier in 2026. The Friday address marks his first Jackson Hole keynote in that role. The Federal Reserve Board schedule lists the event location as Jackson Lake Lodge, Moran, Wyoming, and confirms that the text of the remarks will be available.
What Happens to Bitcoin After the Expiry?
Bitcoin was trading at approximately $80,631 at 3:57 p.m. UTC on August 27, up about 3.3% over the previous 24 hours, according to CoinGecko. BTC traded between $77,882 and $80,745 during the period.
The cryptocurrency has returned above $80,000 after breaking the level earlier this week, extending the August rally that began from the mid-$60,000 range.
A sustained hold above $80,000 after the options settle would indicate that the expiry itself has not materially disrupted the rally. Bitcoin’s seven-day high currently stands near $81,160, making the $81,000-$82,000 region the next area where upside positioning could become more relevant.
A move back below the 24-hour low near $77,882 would instead signal that short-term momentum is weakening.
The larger volatility test may arrive after the derivatives contracts have already settled. With Warsh speaking six hours after the expiry, Bitcoin traders will move almost immediately from options-related positioning to interpreting the Fed chair’s message on inflation, interest rates and financial innovation.
That makes Friday less about whether Bitcoin is pulled toward the distant $69,000 max-pain level and more about whether BTC can defend $80,000 through two separate market catalysts within the same trading day.
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