Bitcoin and ether options with a combined notional value in the billions are set to expire on Friday, as traders remain broadly bullish while stepping up hedges against near-term downside risk.
Bitcoin options totaling about $8.5 billion will expire on Deribit at 08:00 UTC. Deribit is the world’s largest crypto derivatives exchange by trading volume and open interest. The notional figures represent the dollar value of outstanding contracts, with each option tied to one bitcoin or one ether.
Crypto options markets have expanded rapidly since the 2020 pandemic-era selloff, fueled by rising institutional participation and increased use of derivatives for hedging and yield strategies. Call options typically reflect bullish expectations, while put options are used to guard against or profit from price declines.
Positioning into the expiry remains skewed toward calls, according to the put-call ratio.
“The put-call ratio for this expiry is 0.56, indicating that month-end positioning is still tilted toward bullish calls,” said Sidrah Fariq, global head of retail sales and business development at Deribit, in comments to CoinDesk.
The bias suggests traders were anticipating stronger price action in January, though bitcoin has gained only about 2% so far this month, CoinDesk data show.
Momentum could improve if Wednesday’s Federal Reserve rate decision points to easier financial conditions. Bitcoin, like technology stocks, has historically benefited from lower interest rates and increased liquidity.
At the same time, traders are actively adding downside protection ahead of the Fed meeting.
“Recent flows show heavy use of put diagonal calendar spreads and concentrated downside activity in Jan. 30 expiries, with notable demand for $88,000 and $85,000 bitcoin puts over the past 24 hours,” Fariq said.
“With markets largely expecting the Fed to keep rates unchanged, this positioning appears aimed at managing event-driven volatility rather than betting on a policy-driven selloff,” she added.
Alongside bitcoin, ether options worth roughly $1.3 billion are also due to expire on Friday.
While large monthly and quarterly expiries can spark short-term price swings, they are unlikely to drive lasting market moves. Bitcoin’s upcoming $8.5 billion options expiry, for example, represents less than 1% of its roughly $1.7 trillion market capitalization.
