{"id":41125,"date":"2026-02-13T06:41:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T06:41:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=41125"},"modified":"2026-02-13T06:41:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T06:41:32","slug":"how-will-markets-react-to-3b-crypto-options-expiring-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=41125","title":{"rendered":"How Will Markets React to $3B Crypto Options Expiring Today?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Around 38,000 Bitcoin options contracts will expire on Friday, Feb. 13, with a notional value of roughly $2.5 billion. This event is a little larger than last week\u2019s expiry.<\/p>\n

Crypto markets remain in bear market territory, losing around $125 billion since the start of the week, as sentiment plunges and the retail and institutional exodus continues.<\/p>\n

Bitcoin Options Expiry<\/h2>\n

This week\u2019s batch of Bitcoin options contracts has a put\/call ratio of 0.76, meaning that there are more expiring calls (longs) than puts (shorts). Max pain is around $75,000, according to Coinglass, which is above current spot prices, so many will be out of the money on expiry.<\/p>\n

Open interest (OI), or the value or number of Bitcoin options contracts yet to expire, remains highest at $60,000 and is now mounting up at $50,000, which has over $1 billion at these strike prices on Deribit as bearish bets increase.\u00a0Total BTC options OI across all exchanges has been climbing this month and is at $36.6 billion.<\/p>\n

Derivatives analyst \u2018Laevitas\u2019 said<\/a> there was a \u201cbear put spread\u201d on Deribit, which involves buying a higher strike put and selling a lower strike put with the same expiry.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWith BTC stabilizing and volume cooling from panic levels, the key question is whether expiry acts as a magnet toward $75K or clears the way for the next directional move,\u201d stated Deribit.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Options Expiry Alert \"\ud83d\udea8\"<\/p>\n

At 08:00 UTC tomorrow, over $2.9B in crypto options expire on Deribit.$BTC<\/a>: $2.53B notional | Put\/Call: 0.76 | Max Pain: $75K$ETH<\/a>: $406M notional | Put\/Call: 0.89 | Max Pain: $2,150<\/p>\n

After last week’s break below $70K triggered liquidations and\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/ZH2dgNglrC<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Deribit (@DeribitOfficial) February 12, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cPut options continue to dominate the market, with over $1 billion in BTC put options traded today, accounting for 37% of the total volume,\u201d commented<\/a> Greeks Live this week, which added that the majority of these are \u201cout-of-the-money options priced between $60,000 and $65,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis indicates that institutions hold a negative outlook on the medium-to-long-term market trajectory, with a strong expectation of a bearish trend within the next one to two months.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In addition to today\u2019s batch of Bitcoin options, around 217,000 Ethereum contracts are also expiring, with a notional value of $406 million, max pain at $2,150, and a put\/call ratio of 0.89. Total ETH options OI across all exchanges is around $7 billion.\u00a0This brings the total notional value of crypto options expiries to around $2.9 billion.<\/p>\n

Spot Market Outlook<\/h2>\n

Total market capitalization is down another 1.5% on the day at $2.34 trillion as the sell-off continues.\u00a0Bitcoin is weakening<\/a> again, falling to just above $65,000 in late trading on Thursday and trading just above $66,000 during Friday morning\u2019s Asian session.<\/p>\n

Analysts are mostly bearish, with many predicting a bottom near or below its realized price of $55,000.\u00a0Ether remains weak below $2,000, hitting $1,900 in an intraday low. Continued weakness for BTC will drag ETH even further down over the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

The post How Will Markets React to $3B Crypto Options Expiring Today?<\/a> appeared first on CryptoPotato<\/a>.<\/p>\n