Will Markets Tank Further When $5.7B Bitcoin Options Expire Today?

Around 48,600 Bitcoin options contracts will expire on Friday, August 1, and they have a notional value of roughly $5.7 billion.

This one is around half of last week’s large end-of-quarter expiry event, so it is unlikely to be enough to influence spot markets, which have started to tank in the wake of Donald Trump’s trade tariff executive order.

“Institutions are stepping in, long-term holders are taking profits, and Ethereum’s at the center of the stablecoin shift sparked by the GENIUS Act,” commented Deribit.

Bitcoin Options Expiry

This week’s big batch of Bitcoin options contracts has a put/call ratio of 0.75, meaning that there are more calls expiring than put contracts. There is also a max pain point of $116,000, pretty close to current spot prices, which is where most losses will be made on contract expiry.

Open interest (OI), or the value or number of BTC options contracts yet to expire, is highest at $140,000, which has surged to almost $3 billion at this strike price. There is also more than $2 billion OI at $120,000 strike price as the bull speculators load up on contracts.

Options Expiry Alert

Tomorrow, over $7B in BTC and ETH options are set to expire on Deribit.$BTC: $5.72B notional | Put/Call: 0.74 | Max Pain: $116K
$ETH: $1.35B notional | Put/Call: 0.97 | Max Pain: $3,500

BTC positions are wide, but price is holding right above max… pic.twitter.com/rHwqvBakWY

— Deribit (@DeribitOfficial) July 31, 2025

The bears in the Greeks Live group were gradually shifting stance, but still not fully convinced. “The group shows clear division on market direction, with traders split between calling the bottom and expecting further downside,” they said in a weekly update.

“Key levels being watched include $116k as critical support and $118k as potential resistance, with disagreement on whether the recent dip represents a buying opportunity or the start of a deeper correction.”

The crypto derivatives provider also noted that the community expressed concern that without this institutional flow (Strategy buying 21,021 BTC), price could have easily dropped to $115,000 or lower, “highlighting the market’s current dependence on corporate treasury flows.”

In addition to today’s batch of Bitcoin options, there are around 350,000 Ethereum contracts that are also expiring, with a notional value of $1.35 billion, a max pain point of $3,500, and a put/call ratio of 0.96. This brings Friday’s combined crypto options expiry notional value to around $7 billion.

Crypto Markets Tank

Crypto markets have dumped more than $100 billion over the past 24 hours in a 6% total capitalization decline to $3.86 trillion.

The move was triggered by the US President unleashing a wave of tariffs before his Aug. 1 deadline. Many countries that failed to make a deal with him were facing steep tariffs, which rattled markets.

Bitcoin tanked to a three-week low below $115,000 during the Friday morning Asian trading session as it clings to support levels within its rangebound channel.

Ethereum fared a little better, dipping to $3,650 before rebounding to reclaim $3,700 at the time of writing. The altcoins were getting hammered as usual, with larger losses for Solana, Dogecoin, Cardano, Sui, and Chainlink.