Ethereum Options Also Reach Expiry This Week
Approximately 31,000 Bitcoin options contracts are scheduled to expire on Friday, December 19, carrying a combined notional value of around $2.7 billion. Compared with typical monthly expiries, this event is relatively small and is not expected to have a significant impact on spot markets, which have been trending lower throughout the week.
The ongoing weakness in Bitcoin prices has been driven by a mix of macroeconomic and industry-specific factors. These include reports of renewed crackdowns on Bitcoin mining operations in China, delays surrounding cryptocurrency regulation in the United States, and concerns over tighter monetary policy following expectations of interest rate hikes by the Bank of Japan.
Bitcoin Options Positioning and Key Levels
Data from Coinglass shows that this week’s Bitcoin options expiry carries a put/call ratio of 0.8, indicating a slightly higher number of call options compared with puts. The “max pain” level—where the greatest number of options expire worthless—is estimated near $88,000.
Open interest (OI), which reflects the total value of outstanding options contracts, is heavily concentrated at higher strike prices. The $100,000 level holds the largest OI, with approximately $2.3 billion worth of contracts on Deribit. Meanwhile, around $2.1 billion in OI remains at the $85,000 strike price, a level that was tested earlier this week. Across all exchanges, total Bitcoin options open interest stands at roughly $52.5 billion.
Commenting on the positioning, Deribit noted:
“BTC open interest is concentrated around $88K, with slightly heavier put positioning, pointing to a relatively contained expiry unless spot breaks range.”
Ethereum Options Also in Focus
In addition to Bitcoin, roughly 155,000 Ethereum options contracts are also expiring on Friday. These contracts have a combined notional value of about $460 million. According to available data, Ethereum’s max pain level sits near $3,100, with a put/call ratio of 1.1, suggesting a marginally higher number of bearish positions.
Total Ethereum options open interest across exchanges is estimated at around $11 billion and has been declining steadily since late August, reflecting reduced derivatives activity amid broader market uncertainty.
