Will Markets Move Higher as $4.9B Crypto Options Expire

Around 35,000 Bitcoin options contracts will expire on Friday, August 8, and they have a notional value of roughly $4.1 billion.

This expiry event is smaller than last week’s, so it is unlikely to be enough to influence spot markets, which have started to recover following news in the US that Donald Trump has allowed BTC in pensions.

Bitcoin Options Expiry

This week’s batch of Bitcoin options contracts has a put/call ratio of 1.38, meaning that there are many more short contracts expiring than longs. There is also a max pain point of $115,000, around $2,000 below current spot prices, which is where most losses will be made on contract expiry.

Open interest (OI), or the value or number of BTC options contracts yet to expire, is highest at $140,000, which has surged to almost $3 billion at this strike price on Deribit. There is also around $2.3 billion OI at $120,000 strike price as the bull speculators load up on contracts.

🚨 Options Expiry Alert 🚨

Tomorrow, over $4.9B in BTC & ETH options are set to expire on Deribit.$BTC: $4.15B notional | Put/Call: 1.38 | Max Pain: $115K$ETH: $792M notional | Put/Call: 1.06 | Max Pain: $3,600

OI distribution hints at puts clustered below spot, calls… pic.twitter.com/wF4AEXAv7F

— Deribit (@DeribitOfficial) August 7, 2025

Crypto derivatives provider Greeks Live noted that the group was showing “a mixed sentiment with traders focused on low volatility environments and $112,000 strike levels for end-of-week options.”

Traders are actively selling puts at the $112,000 strike price despite 32% implied volatility concerns, they said before adding that discussion around volatility dip buying vs selling reveals a split market, “with most participants positioned as volatility sellers rather than buyers.”

In addition to today’s batch of Bitcoin options, there are around 222,000 Ethereum contracts that are also expiring, with a notional value of $792 million, a max pain point of $3,600, and a put/call ratio of 1.06. This brings Friday’s combined crypto options expiry notional value to around $4.9 billion.

Additionally, Binance futures trading volumes hit $2.55 trillion in July, the highest level since January, reported CryptoQuant this week

Crypto Market Outlook

Crypto markets are up 3.2% on the day, with total capitalization reaching $3.94 trillion during the Friday morning Asian trading session.

Bitcoin performed well, reclaiming $117,500 in early trading before a slight retreat back to the high $116,000 levels. The move has pushed the asset back into the July trading channel as it recovers from its bounce to support.

Ethereum has performed even better, surging 6% to top $3,900 early on Friday morning as it inches closer to the psychological $4,000 barrier

XRP was the best-performing altcoin with an 11% gain after Ripple Labs and the SEC both filed to drop their legal appeals in the five-year court battle