About $3B in BTC and ETH options expired on Deribit; ETH traders showed defensive positioning with put-to-call ratio at 0.89.
DeFi & Yields ·
Options contracts totaling approximately $2.9 billion to $3 billion across Bitcoin and Ethereum settled on Deribit, with BTC accounting for roughly $2.53 billion and ETH between $406 million and $425 million. The expiry marked a divergence in trader sentiment between the two assets. Bitcoin's put-to-call ratio reached 0.76, pointing to bullish positioning, while Ethereum's equivalent metric climbed to 0.89, reflecting a shift toward protective strategies among ETH traders.
Max pain—the price point at which the largest number of options expire worthless—landed near $75,000 for Bitcoin and $2,150 for Ethereum ahead of settlement. These levels can signal where market makers may have incentive to move prices as expiration approaches, though actual outcomes depend on broader market dynamics.
The settlement proceeded with relatively subdued volatility, leaving open questions about whether the defensive tone in Ethereum options reflected underlying weakness or merely tactical hedging ahead of upcoming events.