Nearly $10B of Deribit BTC and ETH options expire
$9.87 billion of Bitcoin and Ethereum options expired on Deribit at 08:00 UTC, covering 109,000 BTC ($8.55B) and 563,000 ETH ($1.32B); both settled above max pain levels.
Deribit recorded $9.87 billion of Bitcoin and Ethereum options expirations at 08:00 UTC, covering 109,000 BTC contracts with a notional value of $8.55 billion and 563,000 ETH contracts worth $1.32 billion. The monthly settlement was April’s largest and cleared roughly 25% of open interest on the exchange.
At settlement Bitcoin traded near $77,900, above a calculated max pain level of $72,000. Ether traded around $2,315, above a max pain level of $2,200. Put-to-call ratios indicated a modest call tilt, about 0.93–0.94 for Bitcoin and roughly 0.72–0.74 for Ethereum.
Open interest showed near parity for Bitcoin, with 52,607 call contracts versus 52,844 puts, and a clearer call bias for Ethereum, with 322,373 calls against 245,862 puts. Overall call open interest led on the larger positions ahead of settlement.
Implied volatility fell as prices rose. Greeks.live reported that Bitcoin implied volatility for major maturities dropped 1 to 2 percentage points and moved below 40% for many terms, while Ether’s implied volatility declined more sharply and sat around 60%.
Greeks.live wrote, “The market continued to rebound this week, with Bitcoin breaking strongly above $78,000… Despite the price rally, Skew metrics have pulled back, indicating that the market is not driven by FOMO.”
About 12% of remaining positions are scheduled to mature at the end of May and 24% at the end of June, making the June expiry the next major quarterly event traders will watch. The concentration of June-dated contracts and derivatives flows are likely to affect positioning and liquidity in the coming weeks.
