About 81,700 bitcoin options worth roughly $6.4 billion expire on Deribit Friday at 08:00 UTC, following bitcoin's rapid climb from $62,000 to $80,000. Calls outnumber puts and more than half a billion dollars in notional sits within 5% of the current price, conditions that could intensify short-term swings around key strike levels.
Roughly 81,700 bitcoin options contracts, worth approximately $6.44 billion in notional value, expire on Deribit Friday at 08:00 UTC. The size of the expiry follows bitcoin's recent rally, leaving market makers with heavier exposure to manage around a handful of strike prices.
Calls outnumber puts as bitcoin nears $80,000
The expiry comprises 44,639 call contracts and 37,061 put contracts, a put-to-call ratio of 0.83 that points to bullish positioning. The $75,000 strike carries the largest call open interest at $236 million, followed by the $80,000 strike at $157 million.
Bitcoin surged from roughly $62,000 to $80,000 in one week, its second-largest weekly gain in several years. That rally pushed call options with strike prices below $80,000 into the money, adding to the amount of exposure dealers must offset.
Gamma hedging raises the stakes near key strikes
Deribit Chief Risk Officer Shaun Fernando said nearly 20% of bitcoin open interest on Deribit is set to expire. The bitcoin volatility index has risen 30% relative over the past week as the term structure shifted from backwardation to contango and call-put skew flipped from negative to positive.
He added that over half a billion dollars in notional sits within a 5% move of the current price. That concentration should increase gamma hedging into the expiry. According to CoinDesk: "That may result in unusual pinning around key strikes or accelerate moves through them."
Market makers manage that exposure by buying or selling bitcoin as the price moves, and clustered open interest can force them to adjust more aggressively. Sometimes the result is pinning, where price gravitates toward the strike carrying the most exposure; a decisive break away from that level can trigger a larger move instead.
Max pain sits well below the market
Separately, bitcoin traded near $78,970, down about 1.4% over 24 hours but still 22.9% higher over seven days, crypto.news reported, with the session ranging between roughly $77,955 and $80,194.
The expiry's max-pain level, where the largest share of contracts would settle worthless, stands near $68,000 — well below current trading levels. Whether bitcoin holds near $80,000, drifts toward $75,000 or breaks through the concentrated strikes will depend on how dealers unwind or roll their positions once Friday's contracts settle.
Sources: CoinDesk, crypto.news
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