Markets Braced for Impact: $22B Crypto Options Expiry Looms - Will It Trigger Deeper Dumps?

A tidal wave of crypto derivatives hits expiration today—traders are buckling up for potential volatility.

The $22 Billion Question

Options contracts representing a staggering $22 billion notional value mature this Friday. Market makers who sold these instruments now face critical hedging decisions that could amplify price swings across major cryptocurrencies.

Gamma Exposure Dynamics

When large options positions approach expiry, dealers scramble to adjust their spot market hedges. Massive call options expiring out-of-the-money could trigger forced liquidations—creating a feedback loop of selling pressure. Put holders meanwhile may cash in their bearish bets.

Historical Precedents

Previous quarterly expiries have seen 10-15% intraday moves in Bitcoin and Ethereum. With open interest concentrated at specific strike prices, the market acts like a magnet pulling prices toward maximum pain points.

Traders Deploy Defensive Strategies

Sophisticated players are rolling positions to later dates or building collateral buffers. Retail investors? Mostly just praying—because when Wall Street's derivative machinery grinds into gear, someone always gets chewed up. Just another day in crypto's beautiful casino.

Bitcoin Options Expiry

This week’s batch of bitcoin options contracts has a put/call ratio of 0.76, meaning that there are more long contracts expiring than shorts, as the asset continues to retreat. Max pain is around $110,000, according to Coinglass.

Open interest (OI), or the value or number of Bitcoin options contracts yet to expire, is highest at $140,000, which has reached $2.7 billion at this strike price on Deribit. There is also around $2.2 billion OI at $120,000, but $95,000 is a popular strike price for short sellers with $1.9 billion in OI.

Total BTC options OI across all exchanges is around $60 billion, which is close to record highs. Additionally, total Bitcoin futures OI currently stands at $80 billion, which is still close to peak levels, according to Coinglass.

Options Expiry Alert

At 08:00 UTC tomorrow, over $22.3B in crypto options expire on Deribit; one of the biggest quarter-end expiries. $BTC: Notional: $17.06B | Put/Call: 0.76 | Max Pain: $110K$ETH: Notional: $5.20B | Put/Call: 0.80 | Max Pain: $3,800

Q3’s largest… pic.twitter.com/FDT1tWomYH

— Deribit (@DeribitOfficial) September 25, 2025

Following the market slump earlier this week, “implied volatility (IV) for major terms showed little change, but skew significantly shifted toward puts, with put premiums substantially exceeding call premiums,” said derivatives provider Greeks Live.

“This indicates a sharp increase in the options market’s expectation of downside risk.”

In addition to today’s bumper batch of Bitcoin options, there are around 1.3 million ethereum contracts that are also expiring, with a notional value of $5.3 billion, max pain at $3,800, and a put/call ratio of 0.80. Total ETH options OI across all exchanges is around $18 billion, reports Coinglass.

This brings Friday’s combined crypto options expiry notional value to around $22.4 billion.

Crypto Market Correction Deepens

Crypto markets have continued their downward slide all week, with total capitalization falling to a four-week low of $3.84 trillion by Friday morning.

Bitcoin fell below $109,000 in late trading on Thursday, losing support at the $112,000 zone. The asset is now 12% down from its peak and poised for further losses as the ‘Septembear’ correction appears to be deepening.

Ethereum is even weaker, slumping to $3,830 before recovering to $3,950 on Friday morning in Asia. ETH is now 20% down from its all-time high.

The alcoins are a sea of red with larger losses for XRP, BNB, Solana, Avalanche, and Sui.