As another Friday arrives, it marks the expiration of Bitcoin options, coinciding with a strong performance by altcoins in the crypto markets. Approximately 25,000 Bitcoin option contracts are set to expire today, representing a lower volume compared to last week’s expiry event. Notably, the upcoming Friday harbors a significant year-end expiration.
The value of expiring Bitcoin options today stands at $1.11 billion, with a put/call ratio of 0.70, indicating a larger portion of long (call) positions expiring compared to short (put) positions. Data from Deribit shows increased activity around the $40,000 and $45,000 levels, with about 22,400 calls at the $50,000 mark.
According to Greeks Live data from December 21, the option market is sending mixed signals, with BTC’s price holding at $44,000. There is a dominance of put purchases in both BTC and ETH block trades, with over half of the block trades amounting to a total of $100 million, suggesting that large whales are adding to short positions during a period of high market sentiment.
Another piece of data from Deribit indicates that the total open interest in nominal value is $16.4 billion. In addition to Bitcoin options, around 217,000 Ethereum options are also expiring today, with a nominal value of approximately $491 million at the time of writing.
The impact of today’s Bitcoin option expiries on spot markets seems minimal. Bitcoin’s price gained 2.5% in the morning, and the total market capitalization reached $1.74 trillion, the highest level since early May 2022. Currently, BTC is trading at $43,376, up 3.6% compared to last Friday, while Ethereum is up 2.31%, trading at $2,290.
Contrasting Bitcoin and Ethereum, altcoins like Solana, Cardano, Avalanche, Polkadot, and Chainlink have reflected the highest daily gains. Solana, in particular, has surpassed BNB, climbing to the 4th position in the crypto market rankings.