Around 21,300 Bitcoin options contracts will expire on Friday, February 14, with a notional value of around $2 billion.
This week’s expiration event was slightly smaller than last week, which barely affected the spot market. Despite a lot of positive news from the United States, the crypto market still lacked momentum.
This week’s Bitcoin options contracts had a put/call ratio of 0.67, indicating that there were slightly more calls (long) than puts (short). The “max pain” point, i.e. the price at which most losses would occur, was at $98,000.
Additionally, open interest (OI), the amount or value of BTC options contracts that have not yet expired, was highest at the $120,000 strike price with a value of $1.8 billion, according to Deribit.
There is also around $1.2 billion in OI at the $110,000 strike price, indicating that derivatives traders are still optimistic that BTC prices will rise in the long term.
Earlier this week, crypto derivatives provider Greeks Live reported that Consumer Price Index (CPI) data beat expectations, sending the crypto market lower. They added:
“Market sentiment remains in a weak consolidation mode this week, with Implied Volatility (IV) falling to its lowest level in almost a year, despite a slew of positive news from the US government.”
“Short-term IV futures are very low, with IV expiring this month at just 46%, and the options market is expecting lower volatility in the coming period,” they added. The main reason is “the continued weakness in the short-term bullish momentum,” they said.
In addition to Bitcoin options, around 176,000 Ethereum options contracts also expired today with a notional value of $470 million, a put/call ratio of 0.64, and a max pain of $2,765. This brings the total value of crypto options expiring on Friday to around $2.5 billion.
“Institutions generally agree that February was a lackluster month with no significant market action, and indeed, the market appears to be lacking in traction and capital,” according to Greeks Live.
The total market cap has fallen around 3% in one day, down to $3.32 trillion. However, it remains within a sideways channel that has formed since mid-November.
Bitcoin fell to a daily low of $95,426 before recovering to $96,700 in the latest trading session on Friday. The asset is still in a consolidation phase with resistance above the $98,000 level.
Ethereum has remained flat between $2,600 and $2,700 over the past 24 hours and is not expected to move significantly until BTC shows a clearer direction.
Altcoins showed mixed performance, with XRP, Cardano, and Stellar posting gains, while Binance Coin, Tron, Chainlink, and Sui experienced declines.
