Bitcoin faces $62K max pain as $1.75B crypto options expire

Bitcoin and Ethereum options worth about $1.75 billion expired on July 10 as traders maintained a cautious view of the crypto market.

According to data shared by Greeks.live, about 23,000 Bitcoin options expired with a notional value of $1.5 billion. The contracts had a put-call ratio of 0.97 and a maximum pain level of $62,000.

Meanwhile, 140,000 Ethereum options expired with a notional value of $250 million. The ETH contracts carried a put-call ratio of 1.26 and a maximum pain level of $1,700.

Bitcoin options traders limit short-term upside

Bitcoin remained above $60,000 for most of the week and briefly reached $64,000 during Asian trading on Friday. The price later stayed close to a resistance area between $64,000 and $64,500.

The weekly expiry covered about 7% of outstanding options, making it smaller than recent monthly and quarterly settlements. Therefore, the contracts alone were unlikely to cause a lasting move in the spot market.

Bitcoin’s gamma exposure was concentrated near $64,000. A large number of call options also accumulated around that level, which may affect dealer hedging as the price moves through the strike.

However, Greeks.live said large call trades increased during the week because traders sold short-term calls slightly above the market price. This strategy generates income when traders expect an asset to remain flat or fail to rise beyond a selected strike.

The activity suggested that institutional traders had doubts about Bitcoin’s near-term upward momentum. Still, the 0.97 put-call ratio showed that the total number of puts and calls in the expiry remained nearly balanced.

Options skew retains downside bias

In a separate options market update, Greeks.live said Bitcoin’s 25-delta skew had stabilized after a sharp repricing during June.

The one-day, seven-day and one-month readings stood at -6.4%, -6.7% and -7%, respectively. Negative skew means traders are paying more for downside protection than for similar bullish positions.

“Puts continue to trade at a premium to calls across all major expirations,” the firm said. 

However, it added that the size of that premium had become more uniform across different contract periods.

The data showed that defensive demand was no longer concentrated only in contracts close to expiry. Medium-term options also accounted for a larger part of the downside premium.

Greeks.live described the setup as a “more normalized term structure” but said options pricing retained “a persistent downside bias.” The statement reflects current positioning and does not guarantee that Bitcoin will decline.

The July 3 expiry also showed demand for short-term downside protection. That event involved $1.9 billion in BTC options, with maximum pain at $61,000.

Ethereum puts remain unusually elevated

Ethereum’s put-call ratio reached 1.26, meaning put options outnumbered calls in the weekly batch. The ratio remained high for a second consecutive week after reaching 1.29 during the previous expiry.

Greeks.live linked much of that activity to protective positions with strike prices below $1,500. These puts were deeply out of the money as expiry approached, but they showed that some traders had hedged against a sharper ETH decline.

Ethereum gamma exposure was concentrated near $1,750, with call accumulation also visible around the level. However, ETH remained below the $1,700 maximum pain area during parts of the settlement period.

Ether traders showed heavier put demand during the July 3 expiry. The earlier batch included 135,000 ETH contracts with a 1.29 put-call ratio and maximum pain at $1,650.

Broader markets keep crypto activity subdued

The options expiry followed a week of mixed price action across crypto and traditional markets. U.S. and South Korean equities also faced corrections, while traders assessed interest-rate policy and geopolitical risks.

As reported by crypto.news,Bitcoin recently lost the $64,000 level after a hawkish Federal Reserve decision. The change in rate expectations reduced demand for several risk assets.

Open interest remained large despite the smaller weekly expiry. Bitcoin options open interest across exchanges stood near $28.7 billion, while Ethereum options open interest was about $4.4 billion.