As we enter mid-December, $2.74 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) options expire today.
According to data from Deribit, one of the largest exchanges, 21,000 Bitcoin contracts worth a total of $2.1 billion are expiring today. The put call ratio of these options is 0.83, while the maximum pain level is $98,000.
Max pain is the strike price that has the most open option contracts. This is the price that will cause the largest number of option holders to suffer financial losses when the options expire. The put-call ratio is the ratio between the call options and the put options in the market.
In addition to Bitcoin, 164,000 Ethereum contracts worth more than $640 million are also expiring. Their put call ratio is 0.68 and the maximum pain level is $3,700.
Market makers are acting cautiously
This week, there have been corrections of greater proportions compared to last week, especially for altcoin markets. With very little time left until the end of the year, investors have started to focus on options that expire on the last Friday of the year.
“The last two weeks of data in the options market suggest that market makers are becoming more cautious,” said derivatives analyst Greeks.live. Meanwhile, market volatility led to a small increase in implied volatility (IV).
Stay tuned.