Options expiry worth $15B looms as Bitcoin traders bet on $100K

Bitcoin bulls are positioned for a large options expiry event ahead of Friday.

Around $15 billion worth of options contracts are due to expire on Friday as part of the quarterly settlement.

These September 25 contracts represent over one-third of the total bitcoin options open interest on Deribit.

A call option entitles the holder to purchase the underlying asset at a predetermined price on a future date, while a put option confers the right to sell.

Traders seem to be taking a bullish stance as the expiry approaches.

The put-to-call ratio, a key metric that compares bearish bets to bullish ones, is currently at 0.70, indicating more traders anticipate higher prices.

The largest concentrations of call options are at strike prices of $85,000, $90,000, and $100,000.

Bitcoin recently traded at approximately $84,258, a 2% decline over the last 24 hours, and significantly above the max pain level of $76,000.

The max pain price is where the greatest number of options would expire without value, maximizing losses for holders.

Bitcoin's price is hovering just under $85,000, the point with the highest concentration of call options, and traders are monitoring whether that level will act as a ceiling before Friday's expiration.

As a large options batch approaches expiration, volatility in crypto markets may increase as traders choose to close, roll over, or let their positions expire.

Historically, some expiries have triggered sharp price swings in both directions.

However, that is not guaranteed. Market makers hedging their positions can reduce volatility before settlement, sometimes keeping prices near heavily traded strike prices.

On prior occasions, large options expiries have led to market crashes, but this outcome is not predetermined because market makers can curb volatility by selling premiums.

Investor interest in Bitcoin has revived following a cooling of the AI stock rally and the U.S. Treasury's August announcement that it would at least double its liquidity-support buyback operations.

According to analysts, that move lowered 30-year Treasury yields, weakened the dollar, and increased the appeal of assets such as bitcoin. After the announcement, bitcoin saw its strongest rally in years.

A Tuesday report from CryptoQuant indicated that bitcoin climbed above its 365-day moving average, a sign that the cryptocurrency has exited its bear market.