Around 85,500 Bitcoin options contracts are set to expire on Friday, May 29, representing an estimated notional value of approximately $6.3 billion. This expiry is larger than the typical month-end event and could have a meaningful impact on spot markets.
Crypto markets have been sliding throughout the week, with roughly $120 billion exiting the sector as Bitcoin weakens and Ether suffers sharp losses.
Escalating US military action in the Middle East has pushed traders into a risk-off mode, accelerating the sell-off.
Bitcoin Options Expiry
This week’s set of Bitcoin options carries a put/call ratio of about 0.85, indicating a fairly balanced split between bullish and bearish positioning. Coinglass estimates max pain near $75,000, slightly above current spot prices, meaning a portion of contracts could expire out of the money.
Open interest (OI) remains concentrated at the $80,000 strike on Deribit with roughly $1.7 billion, while short sellers hold about $1.2 billion in OI at the $60,000 level. Overall BTC options open interest across all exchanges has been slowly declining and stands near $37.5 billion, according to Coinglass.
Despite Bitcoin sliding into what some analysts call a “very dangerous level,” implied volatility (IV) has not jumped markedly, Greeks Live reported on Thursday.
Given these dynamics, today’s expiry is poised to “significantly alter the current options position structure,” the derivatives analytics firm said.
“The market as a whole is still betting on support, and large investors’ concerns about the risk of a breakout have not increased significantly,” the firm added.
BTC’s price has begun to break below the Gex concentration zone, and the resistance from open interest will continue to weaken. Meanwhile, since Gex is concentrated around $2,000, ETH has also broken below the Gex resistance level.
Although BTC has fallen to a very dangerous… pic.twitter.com/INeioAIqMP
— Greeks.live (@GreeksLive) May 28, 2026
Alongside the Bitcoin expiries, about 650,000 Ethereum contracts will expire, with an estimated notional value of $1.3 billion. Coinglass places Ether’s max pain near $2,200 and reports a put/call ratio of 0.77. Total ETH options open interest across all exchanges is around $6.9 billion.
Combined, the crypto options expiries total roughly $7.6 billion in notional value, marking the largest such event in several weeks.
Spot Market Outlook
Markets have been sliding all week, with total crypto market capitalization falling to about $2.55 trillion on Friday morning in Asia, its lowest level since April 13.
Bitcoin briefly reclaimed $73,000 after dipping below it twice on Thursday, but market structure remains fragile and the risk of further declines persists.
Ethereum had also temporarily regained the $2,000 mark at the time of reporting, yet it continues to display weakness and remains deep in bear-market characteristics.
Additional downward pressure could come from US inflation data: the latest PCE report showed the fastest rise in inflation in three years for April, a development that may weigh on risk assets, including crypto.