Over 2.5 Billion USD of Bitcoin and Ethereum Options Will Expire on Valentine's Day

The options contracts for Bitcoin and Ethereum, worth over 2.5 billion dollars, will expire this Friday. Moreover, the market is still in turmoil due to U.S. economic data this week, including CPI and PPI. However, could the expiration of derivative products today push prices higher towards the end of the week? Bitcoin (BTC) is still much lower than the psychological threshold of $100,000 due to the impact of ongoing macroeconomic events. Bitcoin and Ethereum options expire today About 21,362 Bitcoin options contracts will expire on Valentine's Day, February 14. The notional value for the Bitcoin options contracts expiring this Friday is $2.07 billion, according to data on Deribit. The put/call ratio is 0.66, indicating the prevalence of call options over put options. When Bitcoin options expire, they have a maximum exercise price of $98,000, at which point this asset will cause financial losses for the largest holders.

The expiration event of options this week is much smaller than what the cryptocurrency market witnessed last Friday. As BeInCrypto reported, about $3.12 billion worth of BTC and ETH options expired at that time, allegedly due to the tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump, causing the price of Bitcoin to drop below $100,000.

The expiration of options can lead to price fluctuations, so traders and investors need to closely monitor today's developments. However, a put-to-call ratio below 1 for Bitcoin and Ethereum in options trading indicates optimism in the market. This shows that many traders are betting on price increases. Market sentiment remains fragile this week, Greeks Live comments, adding that implied volatility has dropped to its lowest level in nearly a year despite positive news from the US government. This signals that expected price fluctuations may be lower, which could impact options prices and trading strategies. Greeks.live shares: "As BTC has dropped below $100,000, major options companies have been continuously selling short and medium-term buy orders, with a significant increase in the volume of buy orders, but a decrease in the volume of sell orders, indicating that although the market is not optimistic about the upward trend, it is fearful of the downward trend". In this context, analysts at Greeks.live point out that organizations consider February a "garbage time". This means that the period of low market activity or interest can affect the trading volume and prices of the cryptocurrency market. When the options contracts are about to expire at 8:00 UTC today, the prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum could reach their respective maximum pain levels. According to BeInCrypto's data, BTC is trading at $96,714, while ETH is changing hands at $2,696.

This shows that the prices of BTC and ETH could rise as smart money flows towards the 'maximum pain' level. According to the Maximum Pain theory, the option price tends to gravitate towards the strike price when the highest number of contracts, both calls and puts, expire worthless.

Price pressure on BTC and ETH may decrease after 08:00 UTC on Friday when Deribit settles contracts. However, the absolute scale of these expirations can still fuel increased volatility in the cryptocurrency market.