Approximately 20,500 Bitcoin options contracts are set to expire on Friday, May 22, representing a notional value of about $1.5 billion. This expiry is smaller than many previous events, so it is unlikely to exert significant influence on spot markets.
Crypto markets have declined throughout the week, with roughly $50 billion exiting the sector as Bitcoin weakens. Even positive headlines have had little effect, as investors remain cautious amid persistent macroeconomic uncertainty.
Bitcoin Options Expiry
This week’s batch of Bitcoin options has a put/call ratio of 0.69, indicating more interest in calls than puts. Coinglass calculates max pain at roughly $79,000, slightly above current spot prices, which means some contracts may expire out of the money.
Open interest (OI) — the value or number of options contracts that are still active — is highest at the $80,000 strike on Deribit, with about $1.65 billion in OI. Short sellers, however, still hold roughly $1.2 billion in OI at the $60,000 strike. Total Bitcoin options open interest across all exchanges has been climbing this month and stands near $37.6 billion, according to Coinglass.
Deribit highlighted the scale of expiries across crypto options, noting over $1.8 billion set to expire on its platform, with bitcoin-native notional around $1.53 billion, a put/call ratio of 0.69 and max pain near $79,000. Ethereum-native expiries were listed at about $264 million with a put/call ratio close to 1 and max pain near $2,200.
Traders have used the recent rebound to build defensive positions ahead of the month’s final ten days, according to crypto derivatives provider Greeks Live. Market participants are said to be preparing for pullbacks without expecting a full-scale collapse.
Greeks Live added that May and June are traditionally challenging months for trading. Throughout May, major investors have been consistently increasing defensive exposure by buying protection, selling marginal calls at the tail end, and managing costs.
Alongside Bitcoin expiries, roughly 123,000 Ethereum options contracts are also expiring, with a notional value near $263 million. Ethereum’s max pain is around $2,200 and the put/call ratio is approximately 1. Total ETH options open interest across exchanges is roughly $6.9 billion.
Deribit observed that ETH positioning shifted from strongly call-biased last week to nearly balanced this week, suggesting that trader conviction has cooled as market participants await new catalysts.
Spot Market Outlook
Spot markets have pulled back again today, with total crypto market capitalization falling to about $2.67 trillion. Bitcoin was unable to climb above $78,000, slipped to an intraday low near $76,750, and then staged a modest recovery on Friday morning. The overall tone points to a resumed downtrend that is pulling broader market sentiment lower.
Ether and most altcoins have shown relatively little movement over the past 24 hours, remaining largely flat after a predominantly bearish week. Trading activity appears muted as investors wait for clearer directional cues.