The crypto market braces for significant movements as more than $3 billion in Bitcoin and Ethereum options expire today.

This expiration includes 25925 contracts, slightly fewer than last week's 26949 contracts.

Today is a pivotal day for crypto derivatives as more than $3 billion in Bitcoin and Ethereum options are set to expire.

With substantial contracts and maximum pain points identified, how will these expiring options affect the market’s volatility?

Crypto Markets Brace for $3 Billion Options Expiry

According to Deribit data, approximately $2.65 billion in Bitcoin options are set to expire today. The maximum pain point for these options is $94,000, accompanied by a put-to-call ratio of 1.05.

This expiration includes 25,925 contracts, slightly fewer than last week’s 26,949 contracts.

Ethereum also sees the expiration of 164,591 contracts, lower than last week’s 184,296 open interest. These expiring contracts have a notional value of $364.06 million. The maximum pain point for these contracts is $1,850, with a put-to-call ratio of 1.43.

With Bitcoin and Ethereum sales exceeding purchase calls, analysts at Greeks.live cite a predominantly bearish market sentiment.

“The group seems to be leaning bearish with traders positioning for potential downside moves,” wrote Greeks.live.

For Bitcoin, this sentiment becomes more apparent with its max Pain level well below its current price of $102,570. Based on the Max Pain theory, prices tend to draw towards these strike prices as the options near expiration.

Based on this, analysts at Greeks.live note that some traders are watching Bitcoin’s $93,00000 to $99,000 price level. They also cite a lack of enthusiasm about BTC’s foray past the $100,000 milestone.

“Market described as boring chop with traders looking to capitalize on time decay while maintaining downside exposure,” the analysts added.

Positioning Skews Bearish, Max Pain Sits Below Price

Meanwhile, with put-to-call ratios above one for both Bitcoin and Ethereum, there are more Put options (bearish bets) than Call options (bullish bets). More traders are betting that the price will go down.

The histograms in the images above confirm this. The BTC open interest chart shows a significant concentration of option contracts at strike prices below the current BTC price of $102,570, particularly between the $93,000 around $100,000 prices.

This clustering of option