$1.54 Billion in Crypto Options Expire Amid Whale Sell-Offs

Today, approximately $1.54 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) options are set to expire, creating significant anticipation in the crypto market.

Expiring crypto options often leads to notable price volatility, prompting traders and investors to monitor today’s developments closely.

Analysts Predict Stabilization Post Options Expiration in Crypto Market

Expiring Bitcoin options have a notional value of $1.04 billion, with 18,339 contracts set to expire. These contracts have a put-to-call ratio of 0.71 and a maximum pain point of $62,000.

Read more: An Introduction to Crypto Options Trading

The maximum pain point in options trading represents the price level that causes maximum financial pain for option holders. Additionally, the put-to-call ratio suggests a prevalence of purchase options (calls) over sales options (puts).

Ethereum has 162,782 expiring contracts with a notional value of $501.12 million. These contracts exhibit a put-to-call ratio of 0.37 and a max pain point of $3,350. Analysts at Greeks.Live noted that recent market sell-offs have led to heavy losses for crypto markets, with BTC falling to $57,000 and ETH to $3,100.

Furthermore, the data shows that BTC’s short-term implied volatility (IV) is up 10%. Meanwhile, the Deribit Implied Volatility Index (DVOL) is up 3%, and ETH-related parameters are up slightly less than BTC. Skew values indicate a bearish market sentiment.

“BTC Block put volume is clearly on the rise, the distribution of transactions is more complex, the July 12 58,000 Put is the largest one. Looking at Options Data, whales are not too worried about potential downside risk at the moment and are mainly in the process of adjusting their positions for last week’s quarterly delivery, especially for ETH, where whales are showing low volatility expectations,” the Greeks.Live analysts said.

Both Bitcoin and Ethereum prices have dropped significantly this week. On July 4, BTC plummeted from the $60,000 level to as low as $56,964 today. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $57,037. Similarly, Ethereum plummeted from $3,304 to $3,060 over the same period. ETH is now valued at $3,083, down by 3.4% in the last 24 hours.

Industry experts attribute the recent decrease in BTC and ETH prices to heightened sell-offs from long-term whales, including governments. BeInCrypto reported that on-chain data shows yesterday, the German government’s crypto wallet moved 3,000 BTC, worth approximately $174.3 million, to several destinations. These include major crypto exchanges such as Bitstamp, Kraken, and Coinbase.

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While options expirations can cause temporary market disruptions, they typically lead to stabilization. Analysts’ recent insights highlight the historical patterns traders may consider when strategizing their positions. Ultimately, traders should remain vigilant, analyzing technical indicators and market sentiment to navigate the anticipated volatility effectively.