There are approximately 21,000 Bitcoin options contracts expiring on Friday, April 12th. The notional value of these is approximately $1.5 billion, slightly higher than last week's expiry event.
Additionally, the cryptocurrency market has been relatively stable this week, with total capitalization hovering at just over $2.7 trillion, with Bitcoin dominating market movements.
Bitcoin options expiration date
The current put/call ratio for expiring Bitcoin derivatives is 0.62, which means there are almost twice as many expiring call (long) contracts as puts (short).
The biggest pain point, the price at which most losses occur at expiration, is $69,000, slightly lower than the current spot price.
Bulls appear to be in control of the derivatives market at the moment, with a large amount of open interest (OI) with strike prices above $70,000. According to Deribit, strike prices of $80,000 and $100,000 are popular, with OIs of $880 million and $934 million, respectively.
“This week, the level of volatility in the crypto market increased significantly, reaching $70,000 and $3,500.” [for ETH contracts] There is a huge opportunity,” said Greek Live, a cryptocurrency derivatives tools provider.
He added that implied volatility has “seen significant declines across all major periods, and with short calls being the most dominant trade this month, halving expectations appears to be overdone.”
In addition to today's set of Bitcoin contracts, 230,000 Ethereum options are set to expire. These have a notional value of $800 million, a put/call ratio of 0.49, and a maximum pain point of $3,425.
Greeks Live concluded that the halving could keep Bitcoin rallying in the short term, although prices are slowing.
“Given the recent slowdown in ETF inflows, lack of new hot spots in the market, and calming market conditions, selling in the medium term is certainly a better option, and the halving makes it worth selling in the short term.”
Virtual currency market outlook
The virtual currency market remains flat on this day, with total capital remaining at $2.74 trillion at the time of writing.
BTC has remained above $70,000 after briefly falling below $70,000 on April 11, and was trading at $70,900 in Asian trading on Friday morning. The asset is just 4.2% away from its all-time high.
Ethereum fell 1.3% on the day and was trading at $3,522 at the time of writing. Altcoins had a mix of small losses or gains for high-value tokens.
