Approximately 20,000 Bitcoin options contracts are set to expire on Friday, September 20. The notional value of these crypto derivatives is approximately $1.26 billion.
Today's options expirations were very similar in size to last week's expirations and did not have a significant impact on the crypto spot market.
Next week's expiry marks the end of the month and quarter, with more than $5.3 billion in Bitcoin contracts expiring.
Bitcoin Options Expiry
The put/call ratio for Bitcoin options contracts this week is 0.85, meaning there are slightly more long (call) contracts expiring than short (put) contracts, but they are roughly equal in number.
The outstanding balance of outstanding options contracts — the value or number of options contracts before they expire — remains high at strike prices of $70,000 and $75,000, exceeding $700 million at both levels.
Additionally, there is another $848 million in OI at $90,000 strike price and over $1 billion in OI at $100,000 strike price, according to Deribit.
Commenting on this week's highly anticipated Federal Reserve interest rate cut and the market's reaction, crypto derivatives provider Greeks Live said crypto markets rose while US stocks “performed below expectations.” Regarding crypto options, it added:
“Implied volatility fell significantly across all major maturities, with ultra-short volatility falling by more than 25% as short-term short selling expectations from large investors were not met.”
Implied volatility is a measure of expected future fluctuations derived from expiring derivatives contracts.The Greek added that there are two more Fed interest rate meetings on Nov. 8 and Dec. 19, with “the market expecting a total of 100 basis points of rate cuts.”
In addition to Bitcoin options this week, there are approximately 124,000 Ethereum options expiring with a notional value of $303 million and a put/call ratio of 0.66.
Bitcoin's Fear and Greed Index is back in neutral at 54, with market sentiment improving slightly from last week.
Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index is 54 – Neutral
Current price: $62,941 pic.twitter.com/vxv68pdG9v— Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index (@BitcoinFear) September 20, 2024
Cryptocurrency Market Outlook
The cryptocurrency market ended the weekend up by $120 billion, or about 5.7%, from a market capitalization of $2.27 trillion at the time of writing.
Bitcoin briefly surpassed $64,000 on Thursday, hitting its highest price in nearly a month, before falling during Friday morning's Asian trading session. The asset is up 2.5% for the day and is trading at $63,900 at the time of writing.
Ethereum hit an intraday high of $2,550 before climbing 5.5% back to $2,530.
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