PANews reported on September 25 that according to CoinDesk, cryptocurrency exchange Deribit said that the Bitcoin market may become busy in the next two days as options contracts worth billions of dollars will expire on Friday. As of the time of writing, 90,000 BTC options contracts worth $5.8 billion and ETH options worth $1.9 billion need to be settled. Of the total $5.8 billion in Bitcoin open contracts, about 20% are "in-the-money" contracts, that is, they have favorable strike prices compared to the current market rate of cryptocurrencies. Similar positioning has also appeared in Ethereum options. For call options, in-the-money means that the strike price is lower than the current market rate, while for in-the-money put options, the opposite is true. Both allow holders to exercise the right to buy and sell for profit, laying the foundation for market volatility.

Deribit CEO Luuk Strijers said in an interview: "About 20% of BTC options that expire are in-the-money options. This larger expiration time may increase market volatility or activity as traders close or roll over positions, which may also affect prices." Rolling over means closing existing trades on the upcoming expiration date and opening new trades on the subsequent expiration date to extend the holding period. In order to make a profit, sophisticated traders usually choose to roll over profitable positions to let profits continue to grow.

Market activity could remain strong in the coming months, as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) decided to allow options tied to the BlackRock Bitcoin ETF (IBIT), which could accelerate institutional adoption. "One of the biggest potential drivers is ETF options. The SEC has expressed support, but the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have not approved it yet and are unlikely to do so this week," said Strijers. The way options expiring in the coming months are priced suggests a bullish market. "After the September expiration date, the put-call skew for Bitcoin and Ethereum is negative, which is a bullish indicator because calls are more expensive relative to puts," Strijers noted.