Monthly options expiry added to BTC drawdown

The monthly options expiry on Deribit added to the market volatility, as BTC moved down to the $115,000 range. While smaller than June’s expiry event, the market is still liquid and may affect spot prices. 

The options expiry on Deribit may add to the price pressure for BTC. The leading coin traded at $115,549.15, pressured closer to the level of maximum pain at $112,000. 

Deribit announced a total of $15.45B in options, down from June’s $17B. The monthly event is still considered significant, as the crypto market has not experienced a summer slump. 

The BTC options expiring have a notional value of $12.66B, while ETH expects a $2.75B expiry event. 

🚨 Options Expiry Alert 🚨

Tomorrow, over $15.4B in BTC and ETH options are set to expire on Deribit.$BTC: $12.66B notional | Put/Call: 0.88 | Max Pain: $112K$ETH: $2.75B notional | Put/Call: 0.87 | Max Pain: $2,800

Last month’s H1 expiry hit $17B. This week’s is not far… pic.twitter.com/5nFSk7qDPg

— Deribit (@DeribitOfficial) July 24, 2025

While ETH maximum pain price at $2,800 is less probable, BTC may see last-minute pressure. For the past few months, both BTC and ETH have expired above their options maximum pain price. 

The put/call ratio signals a more moderate stance, though still retaining a bullish trend. Deribit has seen a faster accumulation of open interest, already building up over $37B for the quarter to date. At the end of Q2, the open interest at expiry was just $35B. 

BTC still trades in greed territory, with an index of 67. However, this does not preclude short-term price moves. Overall BTC volatility is near an all-time low, though the price still fluctuates between key levels. The BTC volatility index is down to 1.27%, with a brief spike during the July rally.

BTC expects dip on extended long liquidations

BTC may easily dip to the $114,000 range, where an accumulation of short positions may trigger an attack. Despite this, BTC retains its bullish factors, with a new accumulation of short positions all the way to $119,000. 

Despite the complex trading, the end of the month has historically performed as a good entry point. BTC still expects a breakout to a new price range, despite temporary setbacks. 

ETH retains the $3,600 range, though the token saw the largest share of long liquidations in the past 24 hours. ETH is traded with more exuberance, with signs of being overheated. The market dominance of ETH expanded to 11.4% as more traders switched their attention, while BTC dominance sank to 59.6%. 

In the past 24 hours, ETH was a leader of liquidations, with $152.13M in predominantly long positions. BTC saw $152.04 in long positions liquidated. 

BTC falls on signs of whale selling

BTC also faces added pressure from spot selling. Despite the general accumulation trend, in the short term some whales are sending their coins to exchanges. 

Galaxy Digital, one of the intermediaries for both retail and institutional traders, has sent 11,910 BTC to multiple exchanges. 

🚨 Is a BIG #BITCOIN SELL-OFF taking place?

Over the past 9 hours, #GalaxyDigital deposited 11,910 $BTC ($1.39B) to multiple exchanges.

These BTCs likely originated from the Bitcoin OG that offloaded 80,202 $BTC ($9.54B) at an average of $118,950 between July 15–18.

Notably,… https://t.co/8wySKm7Eai pic.twitter.com/Qy8t4xqTiI

— Spot On Chain (@spotonchain) July 25, 2025

The crypto service provider also kept sending a few hundred BTC to Bybit and Bitstamp. 

The spot sales originating from the Galaxy Digital wallet follows a recent reawakening of a wallet from 2011. The wallet moved 3,962 BTC, after making a test transaction. The old whale wallet received the typical messages of proving coin ownership, which have made other whales move their coins to new addresses and split them to avoid easy tracking.