Bitcoin's rally from roughly $62,000 toward $80,000 carried the market through one of its largest options expiries of the year on Friday, clearing $6.4 billion in contracts on Deribit. The settlement clears out positions built before the rally, while separate technical charts point to $79,000 support and the $82,825 resistance level as the next levels to watch.
Bitcoin's rally from roughly $62,000 to near $80,000 ran through one of its largest options expiries of the year on Friday, clearing about 81,700 contracts worth $6.4 billion on Deribit at 08:00 UTC. Much of that positioning was built before bitcoin surged more than 20% in a week.
By Thursday, the rally had pushed bitcoin directly into large concentrations of bets at $75,000 and $80,000. The expiry's max-pain level — where the most contracts would expire worthless — sat much lower, around $68,000-$70,000.
Friday's settlement removes those expiring positions from the market. As a result, the next distribution of open interest becomes more useful than the one traders were watching before the rally, since it shows where they are placing bets after bitcoin's move toward $80,000 rather than before it.
Separately, bitcoin is grinding toward a macro higher high near the $82,825 horizontal resistance level, according to Crypto Daily. Yet the Relative Strength Index is trending downward even as price rises, a bearish divergence that could signal fading momentum.
The price may retest horizontal support near $79,000 before extending higher. On the weekly chart, bitcoin needs to hold above $78,530 to flip that former resistance level into support, with this week's candle showing indecision so far.
Sources: CoinDesk, Crypto Daily
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