bitcoin options

Bitcoin and ether options worth a combined $18 billion expire on Deribit this week, and the book is stacked heavily toward bullish bets that have already paid off. Traders are watching whether removing that positioning triggers fresh volatility once the settlement clears dealer hedging that has been propping up the rally.

• $15.9 billion in bitcoin options and $2.1 billion in ether options expire Friday (September 25) at 8:00 UTC
• 55% of the $9.4 billion in bitcoin call notional set to expire is already in the money, Deribit CEO Luuk Strijers said
• Max pain for bitcoin sits at $75,000, well below Friday’s spot price near $85,925

• $15.9B bitcoin options expiring Friday versus $43.5B total Deribit open interest
• 37% share of all outstanding Deribit BTC open interest set to expire
• 0.69 put/call open interest ratio, signaling a call-heavy book
• $75,000 bitcoin’s max pain price versus the roughly $85,500 spot level

Bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) face quarterly options expiries on Friday (September 25), two of the largest derivatives events of the year on Deribit, according to reporting by CoinDesk. The bitcoin leg alone equals 37% of Deribit’s entire outstanding BTC open interest, which stood at roughly $43.5 billion at the time of writing. Positioning across the book leans bullish, with a put/call open interest ratio of 0.69 that Deribit executives describe as built for higher prices.

Deribit’s Put/Call Ratio Of 0.69 Marks A Call-Heavy Book

Deribit CEO Luuk Strijers called Friday’s expiry one of the largest quarterly settlements of the year on the exchange.

This Friday’s quarterly expiry Sept. 25 is one of the largest of the year on Deribit. The September contract remains call-heavy, with a put/call open-interest ratio of 0.69, positioning that was built for higher prices.

Luuk Strijers, CEO, Deribit

Of the $9.4 billion in bitcoin call notional coming due, 55% is already in the money, Strijers said, while put options are largely worthless at current prices. Combined, roughly a third of the full $15.9 billion bitcoin book sits in profitable territory heading into settlement. The $70,000 strike carries more open contracts than any other on the board, and those calls are now deep in the money with spot near $85,925.35.

$85K to $100K Call Strikes Dominate Open Interest

Deribit’s open interest data across strike prices points to a price floor forming around $75,000, chief commercial officer Jean-David Péquignot said. Open interest is concentrated at the $85,000, $90,000, $95,000 and $100,000 call strikes, driven in part by large call condor blocks that were placed when spot traded well below current levels and are now coming into play near $86,000.

On the downside, Péquignot pointed to defensive put structures anchored at $60,000, $70,000 and $75,000, which he described as forming a multi-layered support floor. Ether’s smaller $2.1 billion expiry shows a similar bullish skew, though on a fraction of bitcoin’s scale.

The $75,000 max pain level, the price at which option buyers as a group would lose the most money, sits well below Friday’s roughly $85,500 spot price. Deribit describes that gap as a “soft magnet for price into expiry,” though the theory that sellers actively steer spot toward max pain remains widely debated among traders.

Dealer Hedging Unwind Could Reset Bitcoin’s Range After Friday

Strijers linked bitcoin’s move through the $80,000 to $87,000 range to dealer hedging tied to short call exposure. Dealers who are short calls must buy spot as prices climb to stay hedged, a mechanical flow that can amplify rallies on the way up.

That flow tends to fade once contracts settle. Strijers said the pinning effect could ease after Friday, short-term volatility could rise, and bitcoin’s trading range could reset once the current gamma and hedging positions roll off.

Strijers said traders will be watching price action around the $85,000 level in particular, along with how positioning rolls over into the October and December expiries. Rolling over means traders close expiring contracts and simultaneously open comparable positions dated further out, effectively carrying their market view forward rather than closing it outright.

The BlockWest read. The real signal here is not the expiry itself but what dealers do afterward. If short-call hedging has been quietly bidding spot higher through the summer rally, desks and treasury allocators sizing bitcoin exposure into October should expect thinner mechanical support once Friday’s book unwinds, not a directional call on price.

Traders will get their first read on how the unwind is landing when October and December contracts open for rollover positioning immediately after Friday’s 8:00 UTC settlement, with the $85,000 level serving as the line Strijers flagged for gauging whether bitcoin’s range holds or resets.