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Around 31,000 Bitcoin options contracts will expire on Friday, Dec. 19, and they have a notional value of roughly $2.7 billion.&nbsp;This expiry event is smaller than average, so it will not impact spot markets, which have been sliding lower all week.
Various factors have contributed to the continued sell-off, including another Chinese Bitcoin mining <a href="https://cryptopotato.com/chinas-mining-crackdown-drives-bitcoin-hashrate-to-three-month-low/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">crackdown</a>, delayed crypto market regulations in the United States, and fear over the Bank of Japan hiking rates.
<h2 id="bitcoin-options-expiry">Bitcoin Options Expiry</h2>
This week’s batch of Bitcoin options contracts has a put/call ratio of 0.8, meaning that there are slightly more calls expiring than puts (shorts). Max pain is around $88,000, according to Coinglass.
Open interest (OI), or the value or number of Bitcoin options contracts yet to expire, is highest at $100,000, which has $2.3 billion at this strike price on Deribit. There remains around $2.1 billion in OI at $85,000, which was hit this week.&nbsp;Total BTC options OI across all exchanges is at $52.5 billion, <a href="https://www.coinglass.com/options" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">according</a> to Coinglass.
<blockquote>
 “BTC open interest is concentrated around $88K, with slightly heavier put positioning, pointing to a relatively contained expiry unless spot breaks range,” noted Deribit.
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
 <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/16.0.1/72x72/1f6a8.png" alt="🚨" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;"> Options Expiry Alert <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/16.0.1/72x72/1f6a8.png" alt="🚨" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;">
 At 08:00 UTC tomorrow, around $3.18B in crypto options are set to expire on Deribit.<a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%24BTC&amp;src=ctag&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">$BTC</a>: $2.72B notional | Put Call: 0.81 | Max Pain: $88K
 BTC open interest is concentrated around 88K, with slightly heavier put positioning, pointing to a relatively… <a href="https://t.co/wW8ZYXYCsx" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">pic.twitter.com/wW8ZYXYCsx</a>
 — Deribit (@DeribitOfficial) <a href="https://twitter.com/DeribitOfficial/status/2001649184689066125?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">December 18, 2025</a>
</blockquote>

In addition to today’s batch of Bitcoin options, around 155,000 Ethereum contracts are also expiring, with a notional value of $460 million, max pain at $3,100, and a put/call ratio of 1.1. Total ETH options OI across all exchanges is around $11 billion and has been falling since late August.
“ETH positioning is more distributed across strikes, with notable upside interest above $3.4K, keeping larger moves in play if volatility reaccelerates,” said Deribit.
This brings Friday’s combined crypto options expiry notional value to around $3.2 billion.
<h2 id="spot-market-outlook">Spot Market Outlook</h2>
Markets have fallen again, and total capitalization has dropped below $3 trillion to its lowest level since April.
Bitcoin saw yet another seemingly manipulated&nbsp;pump-and-dump after the CPI&nbsp;<a href="https://cryptopotato.com/lower-than-expected-us-cpi-sparks-instant-bitcoin-price-reaction/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">print</a>, as it fell&nbsp;to $84,500 before reclaiming $85,000 during the Friday morning Asian trading session. The asset looks structurally weak here, and further losses are expected.
Ether prices also continued to weaken, falling below $2,800 briefly but holding on at this level for now.&nbsp;The altcoins were in more pain with heavier losses for XRP, Solana, and Cardano, all losing more than 4% on the day.
The post <a href="https://cryptopotato.com/how-will-markets-react-when-2-7b-bitcoin-options-expire-today/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">How Will Markets React When $2.7B Bitcoin Options Expire Today?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://cryptopotato.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CryptoPotato</a>.

How Will Markets React When $2.7B Bitcoin Options Expire Today?

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