Another week is wrapping up, and with it comes a fresh round of expiring crypto options contracts as spot market momentum begins to slow.
Approximately 25,000 Bitcoin options contracts are due to expire on Friday, May 15, carrying a notional value close to $2 billion. Despite the large figure, the expiration event is considered relatively minor and is not expected to significantly influence spot market activity.
Crypto markets experienced a pullback in the middle of the week following the latest US inflation data. However, prices showed slight signs of recovery on Friday after the market lost nearly $25 billion in total capitalization since Monday.
Bitcoin Options Expiry Details
This week’s Bitcoin options expiry comes with a put to call ratio of 0.55, indicating there are nearly twice as many bullish positions as bearish ones. According to Coinglass, the max pain level sits near $80,000, slightly below current spot prices, meaning some contracts may expire worthless.
Open interest for Bitcoin options remains strongest at the $80,000 strike price on Deribit, totaling around $1.68 billion. Meanwhile, bearish traders still hold roughly $1.2 billion in open interest at the $60,000 level. Across all exchanges, Bitcoin options open interest has steadily increased throughout the month and now stands at approximately $38 billion, based on Coinglass data.
Deribit noted that compared to last week, the size of expiring contracts has increased considerably while put to call ratios have declined further, suggesting traders are continuing to position for upward price movement.
Alongside Bitcoin contracts, nearly 274,500 Ethereum options contracts are also set to expire today. These carry a notional value of about $625 million, with a max pain level at $2,300 and a put to call ratio of 0.39. Total Ethereum options open interest across exchanges is estimated at $7.3 billion.
Crypto Market Outlook
The total crypto market capitalization has risen 1.7% over the past day to reach $2.77 trillion. Markets may experience additional volatility after the US CLARITY Act advanced through the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday with a bipartisan 15 to 9 vote. Over the past six weeks, the crypto market has posted gains of roughly 16%.
Bitcoin managed to rebound after dipping below $80,000 on Thursday but was unable to break through resistance near $82,000. During Friday’s Asian trading session, the asset slipped back below $81,000.
Ethereum also struggled to regain momentum. After failing to move above $2,300, ETH declined again to around $2,265 at the time of writing. Meanwhile, several altcoins showed stronger performance, including XRP, Hyperliquid, Zcash, and Canton, which all recorded positive price movement.#crypto#cryptonews https://coinsignals.net https://t.me/coinsignalpublic
