$1.4 Billion in Bitcoin Options Expire Today: The Latest Pre-Halving Expiration
Today is the options expiration day prior to the fourth halving of the leading cryptocurrency. The crypto market has recently experienced a notable correction. Will this expiration event and halving manage to boost the price of BTC?
Today is the expiration day of Bitcoin options, and there is one particular element to this event: within a few hours the fourth halving of the leading cryptocurrency will occur. The crypto market has recently experienced a notable correction, but will this expiration event and halving be able to boost the price of BTC?
Approximately $1.4 billion in Bitcoin options contracts will expire today. The tranche is very similar to the 21,000 contracts settled last week.
Bitcoin Options Expiration
The face value of the 21,564 Bitcoin contracts and 298,415 Ethereum contracts expiring today is $1.4 billion and $930 million, respectively.
According to information provided by Greeks.Live, Bitcoin’s put/call ratio stands at 0.64. The maximum pain point, that is, the price at which the asset will cause financial losses to the greatest number of holders, is $65,000.
Greeks.Live also highlighted the market volatility experienced this week in the wake of the panic, when BTC fell below $60,000:
“IVs across all major terms saw a sustained decline, mainly due to a sharp drop in call option prices, with Saturday’s halving expectations no longer able to support the market.”
In addition to Bitcoin options, around 298,415 Ethereum contracts will also expire today. These have a face value of $932 million, a put/call ratio of 0.42, and a pain high of $3,125.
Comparatively, there is very little interest in ETH contracts, with all eyes focused on BTC and the premise of the Bitcoin halving.
Geopolitical Tensions Affect the Cryptocurrency Market
Bitcoin (BTC) briefly dipped below $60,000 on Friday morning Asian market time following news that Israel had launched retaliatory missile strikes against Iran.
Israel’s missile strikes come in response to an Iranian attack last Saturday, in which Iran apparently launched more than 300 drones and missiles at targets in Israel.
Israeli officials say all but a few were successfully intercepted by Israel and its allies, including the United States.
The recent evolution of the conflict between Israel and Iran caused a momentary drop in the price of Bitcoin, which fell to $60,000. However, at the time of writing, BTC has recovered and is now valued at $62,500.
Along with Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH), the second largest cryptocurrency, experienced a momentary drop in value, reaching $2,876. However, like Bitcoin, ETH has also recovered and is currently trading at $3,000.
Furthermore, according to data from Coinglass, the total amount of cryptocurrency liquidation in the last hour is a modest $49.35 million, coming mainly from long positions. However, in the last 24 hours more than $250 million has been liquidated.
Crypto Market Analysis: Evolution of BTC and ETH prices
Despite the volatility, the global cryptocurrency market has seen a slight drop in the last 24 hours, bringing its total global capitalization to $2.37 trillion, according to CoinGecko.
Bitcoin has remained in a sideways range, consolidating its price above $60,000. For its part, Ethereum has seen a 15% drop in the last week to currently trade at $3,006.
Most major altcoins have seen steeper declines over the past 7 days. Among them, Solana (-21%), XRP (-20%) and Dogecoin (-26%).
By Leonardo Perez