The global digital assets market printed broad red indexes as Bitcoin (BTC) lost its gaining streak. With $1.4B in options contracts on the line, traders are closely watching whether BTC can recover or if it will continue its slide below key support levels.
Bitcoin witnessed higher volatility over the last 7 days. It traded between $62,000 and $56,000 price zones in the presence of multiple economic and political events affecting the crypto market. BTC price has dropped by over 5% in the last week raising concerns about increased volatility and further downside as the options expiry looms.
Bitcoin faces a $1.4B options expiry
Coinglass data shows that more than $221 million worth of both long and short positions set on the crypto market performance got liquidated in the last 24 hours. However, $174 million worth of liquidated bets (78%) turned out to be short positions. This suggests that the traders were expecting bulls to take over but the largest of the cryptos recorded a sell-off over the last day.
Bitcoin dipped to the $56,000 zone amid the ongoing downturn as its price has now dropped by more than 11% in the last 60 days. BTC did a recovery rally to regain the $58K level but still remained under heavy selling pressure.
As per the Greeks.live data, 24,000 BTC options are about to expire with a Put Call Ratio of 0.83 with a maxpain point of $59,500. It has amounted to a notional value of $1.4 billion. It added that this week’s expiring options represent about 10% of the total position. The August/ September/ December position is currently closer, all a little over 20%.
The upcoming expiry could introduce more downward pressure unless Bitcoin can bounce back above $60K. Historically, periods close to options expiry often bring heightened market turbulence. BTC is trading at an average price of $58,129, at the press time.
Ether drops by 25% in 30 days
Data further depicts that 184K ETH options are also set to expire with a Put Call Ratio of 0.80, maxpain point of $2,650, and a value of $470 million.
Ether, the second biggest crypto, saw a decline of 25% in the last 30 days. This comes in as the freshly launched exchange-traded fund (ETF) linked to ETH posted heavy withdrawals in the first two weeks of trading. These investment products have recorded a cumulative net outflow of $405 million. ETH is trading at $2,598, down by 2%, at the press time.
