🚨 RESEARCH: $11.85 billion in crypto options expires this Friday.
Bitcoin has $10.16 billion worth of options expiring across 162,000 contracts. With Bitcoin currently at $61,750, the max pain level sits at $72,000, which is roughly 15% above where Bitcoin trades right now.
Max pain is the price where the most options expire worthless, meaning option sellers collect the most. Because max pain is above the current spot, any pull from expiry points upward, not downward.
Most of the big call bets are stacked at $80,000, $90,000, and $100,000, all well above current price. Those positions are deep out of the money and will expire worthless if Bitcoin stays where it is.
Ethereum has $1.69 billion in options expiring. ETH is currently at $1,648. Max pain sits at $2,000, roughly 20% above current spot. The book is heavily stacked with calls at $2,100 and $2,500, both above where ETH trades now. If ETH stays flat or drifts lower through Thursday, those calls expire worthless on Friday, and wipe out a disproportionate amount of open interest.
The traders who bought them lose their premium.
The key point is that max pain for both assets sits above the current spot price. The pressure from expiry this week points upward.