Another trading week is closing, and with Friday comes a fresh round of Bitcoin options expirations while spot markets continue to move sideways. Approximately 30,600 Bitcoin options contracts are set to expire on February 20, representing a notional value of about two billion dollars. This figure is slightly lower than last week’s expiry, suggesting the impact on spot prices may be limited.
Despite remaining in broader bear market conditions, crypto markets have been relatively stable over the past week as both trading volume and volatility have declined.
This week’s Bitcoin options carry a put to call ratio of 0.59, indicating a greater number of call options than puts. Data from CoinGlass shows the max pain level sits near 70,000 dollars, above current spot prices, meaning many contracts could expire out of the money.
Open interest remains concentrated at lower strike levels. On Deribit, around 1.2 billion dollars in open interest is positioned at the 60,000 dollar strike and roughly one billion dollars at 50,000 dollars, reflecting increased bearish positioning. Across all exchanges, total Bitcoin options open interest has risen to approximately 36.5 billion dollars this month. Deribit noted that positioning still leans heavily toward calls, with Bitcoin showing a stronger upside bias, although demand for downside protection remains evident. Derivatives analytics firm Laevitas highlighted that traders recently purchased 2,140 BTC worth of put options at the 58,000 dollar level, signaling continued hedging activity.
In addition to Bitcoin contracts, about 212,000 Ethereum options are also expiring, representing roughly 404 million dollars in notional value. Ethereum’s max pain level stands near 2,050 dollars, with a put to call ratio of 0.75. Total Ethereum options open interest across exchanges is approximately 6.8 billion dollars. Altogether, today’s crypto options expiries total around 2.4 billion dollars.
In the spot market, total crypto capitalization has remained flat near 2.37 trillion dollars, which is still about 46 percent below its peak. Bitcoin slipped to a weekly low of 65,700 dollars before recovering toward 67,000 dollars. Resistance continues to build near 70,000 dollars, while support remains just above 60,000 dollars. Ethereum has consolidated around 1,950 dollars, and most altcoins are trading sideways near bear market lows as momentum remains subdued.
