Today, $3 billion worth of BTC and ETH options are expiring.

3 Billion Dollar BTC and ETH Options Expiration

Today, approximately 3 billion dollars worth of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) options are expiring. This situation is drawing significant attention in the cryptocurrency markets and bringing derivative markets back into the spotlight. According to Deribit data, the total nominal value of options expiring today is around 2.84 billion dollars. Bitcoin is at the forefront with a total of 2.4 billion dollars, while Ethereum's share is noted to be 437 million dollars.

Bitcoin's Market Situation

Currently, Bitcoin is trading at around 95,600 dollars, which is above the maximum pain level of 92,000 dollars. In options markets, maximum pain refers to the price at which most contracts expire worthless and typically creates a gravitational pull as expiration approaches. Trading well above these levels brings with it increased volatility risk along with position closing, rolling, or hedging operations.

Bitcoin's options positions exhibit a defensive stance, with call contracts at 11,170 and put contracts at 14,050; this results in a put/call ratio of 1.26.

Ethereum's Situation and Market Trends

Ethereum, on the other hand, is showing signs of consolidation in terms of price. ETH is trading at around 3,300 dollars, slightly above the maximum pain level of 3,200 dollars. The options market presents a more balanced outlook for Ethereum; there are 65,527 call and 67,207 put contracts, reflecting an almost neutral put/call ratio of 1.03.

Data indicates that Ethereum is struggling to clearly break above the resistance area of 3,400 dollars. This situation highlights that cryptocurrency traders are operating in a protective but indecisive market environment.

Trading Differences Between Bitcoin and Ethereum

Derivative flow data further emphasizes Bitcoin's market dominance in the current rally. In a market note dated January 14, analysts pointed out the differences in block trading activities between BTC and ETH. Bitcoin surpassed the resistance level of 95,000 dollars and managed to break out of nearly two months of consolidation range. Although Ethereum has achieved a larger percentage gain, its price movement is observed to be less strong than that of BTC.

This discrepancy is also clearly evident in institutional-scale transactions. According to Greeks.live, Bitcoin block trades reached 1.7 billion dollars, representing over 40% of the total market volume, while Ethereum block trades only reached 130 million dollars, accounting for about 20% of the ETH volume.

Analysts comment, "The market is clearly more focused on Bitcoin's bullish momentum."