Around 26,000 Bitcoin options contracts are set to expire on Friday, June 5, with a combined notional value of roughly $1.6 billion. This figure is smaller than last week’s end-of-month expiries, so it is unlikely to cause significant disruption to spot markets.
Crypto markets have fallen sharply throughout the week, with over $300 billion exiting the sector as Bitcoin weakens and Ether and many altcoins suffer sizable losses.
Geopolitical tensions remain elevated, with continued military strikes involving the US and Iran, no clear diplomatic breakthrough in sight, and global inflationary pressures mounting.
Bitcoin Options Expiry
This week’s batch of Bitcoin options shows a put/call ratio of 0.56, indicating that call positions outnumber puts among sellers of long contracts. Coinglass reports a “max pain” level near $71,000, considerably above current spot prices, which means many contracts could expire out of the money.
Open interest (OI)—the total value or number of Bitcoin options contracts outstanding—remains largest at the $80,000 strike on Deribit, with about $1.6 billion. Short sellers still hold roughly $1.1 billion in OI at the $60,000 strike. Overall BTC options OI across all exchanges has been trending down recently and sits near $31.6 billion, according to Coinglass.
BTC spot is trading about $8,000 below the max pain level after a brutal week that generated $1.5 billion in liquidations and included a brief dip under $62,000. Market positioning continues to skew heavily toward calls, according to Deribit.
Crypto derivatives provider Greeks Live observed that with price action breaking below $70,000, bearish activity has intensified, with notable increases in put open interest at $68,000, $65,000, and $60,000 strikes.
Alongside Bitcoin, roughly 153,500 Ethereum options contracts are also expiring this cycle, carrying a notional value near $266 million. Ethereum’s max pain is around $2,000, and the put/call ratio is approximately 0.97. Total ETH options open interest across exchanges is about $5.7 billion.
Combined, the crypto options expiries for this period total roughly $1.85 billion in notional value, making it a relatively modest event by historical standards.
Spot Market Outlook
This week has been the worst for crypto markets since early February, with total market capitalization tumbling to a four-month low near $2.26 trillion.
Bitcoin briefly bottomed around $61,300 on Thursday and has shown limited recovery into Friday. The asset remains more than 50% below its all-time high and is trading near the lower boundary of its range, where key support levels will be tested.
Ether has been hit particularly hard, falling to a 14-month low around $1,730 and currently trading near that level. Given the week’s momentum and macro risks, further downside pressure is possible as markets head into the weekend.