Bitcoin Options Expiry Impact on Weekend Movements
If you noticed that Bitcoin has retreated a bit overnight, it may be due to the impact of Friday’s big BTC options expiry event. After nearing $38,000 on November 16, Bitcoin prices are now in correction mode.
Today is the day for Bitcoin options expiry, and about 35,000 contracts are set to expire. The notional value for today’s expiring batch is just under $1.3 billion, according to Deribit.
Bitcoin Options Expiry Details
The put/call ratio for today’s Bitcoin options batch is 0.49, meaning there are almost twice as many sellers of long contracts than shorts. Deribit also reports a total open interest notional value of $14.6 billion, close to peak levels. This reflects increasing market sophistication.
BTC options OI has now surpassed that of BTC futures, signaling increasing market sophistication and preference for options as tools for strategic positioning or hedging.
Ethereum Options Expiry and Market Outlook
In addition to the big BTC options expiry event, around 268,000 Ethereum options contracts will also expire today. These have a notional value of roughly $531 million and a put/call ratio of 0.41.
“Ethereum experienced a significant increase in realized volatility, surging 12% in a single day following the news of BlackRock’s ETF filing, pushing its 10-day realized volatility towards 60%.”
Crypto markets have retreated by 2.5% on the day as the correction from the 2023 high of just under $1.5 trillion continues. The total market cap was $1.44 trillion at the time of writing, up 28% since last month.
Crypto Market Status
Bitcoin prices were down 2.6% to $36,447 at the time of press and back to the same levels it was at this time last Friday. Ethereum had fallen 3.3%, retreating back below $2,000 to trade at $1,982 at the time of writing. Additionally, altcoins were mostly in the red during Asian trading on Friday.
Hot Take: Impact on Weekend Crypto Trading
The Bitcoin options expiry event may lead to increased volatility over the weekend as traders position themselves strategically in response to these developments.
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