Bitcoin Faces $13.3B Monthly Options Expiry as BTC Trades Well Below Max Pain

Bitcoin BTC$70,519.86 heads into Friday’s monthly options expiry after a sharp correction that sent BTC down 35% to $81,000 before recovering to $87,000. The correction has made the options market a focal point again, especially with positioning turning more defensive.

According to Deribit data, a total of 153,778 BTC is set to expire, broken down by 92,692 BTC in call open interest and 61,086 BTC in put open interest. Which represents a combined notional value of roughly $13.3 billion and a put call ratio of 0.66, showing that calls still outnumber puts but downside protection has grown.

A call option gives the right to buy BTC at a set strike and reflects a bullish bet, while a put option gives the right to sell and often acts as insurance against declines.

The max pain price sits at $102,000, 17% above the current spot price, illustrating how far BTC has drifted from the level at which option sellers would incur the least total loss. Deribit data shows $3.4 billion of contracts are currently in the money, about 26% of total exposure, while $10 billion remains out of the money, roughly 74%, highlighting how heavily traders positioned for moves outside the current range.

Open interest is most concentrated at the $80,000 strike, the largest bearish cluster on the board. Calls stack up at higher strikes, especially above $120,000, but these are far from being exercised with spot deeply below those levels.

Sentiment remains fragile and deeply in fear, while large out-the-money positions dominating, BTC could remain volatile into Friday as market makers adjust hedging flows around key strike levels.