Will $5B in BTC Options Ignite Another Up?

Around 41,500 Bitcoin options contracts will expire on Friday, July 18, and they have a notional value of roughly $5 billion.

This event is larger than last week’s expiry but unlikely to be enough to influence spot markets, which have been performing solidly this week.

‘Crypto Week’ in the United States has been chaotic, but the House passed the GENIUS and CLARITY Acts on Thursday, giving markets a boost.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin cooled from its Monday all-time high while Ethereum finally lifted off after a year in the doldrums.

Massive wins for crypto in the House:

GENIUS Act passes 307-122.

CLARITY Act passes 294-134.

— David Sacks (@davidsacks47) July 17, 2025

Bitcoin Options Expiry

This week’s tranche of Bitcoin options contracts has a put/call ratio of 0.69, meaning that there are more calls expiring than put contracts. There is also a max pain point of $113,000, around $7,000 below current spot prices, which is where most losses will be made on contract expiry.

Open interest (OI), or the value or number of BTC options contracts yet to expire, is highest at $120,000, with more than $2.3 billion at this strike price. There is also more than $2 billion OI at $130,000 and $140,000 strike prices as the bulls speculators load up on contracts.

Options Expiry Alert
At 08:00 UTC tomorrow, crypto options worth over $5.6B are set to expire on Deribit.$BTC: $4.9B notional | Put/Call: 0.69 | Max Pain: $113K$ETH: $750M notional | Put/Call: 1.00 | Max Pain: $2,900

Expiry is in motion. Trade or track it here ⤵️… pic.twitter.com/rJbXmZvunC

— Deribit (@DeribitOfficial) July 17, 2025

Crypto derivatives provider Greeks Live was still bearish despite this week’s all-time high.

“The group shows a bearish consensus with traders successfully predicting and positioning for downward movement,” they wrote in a market update on Wednesday, before today’s surge.

“Key traders are focusing on put-selling strategies and short positions, with several members acknowledging accurate top-calling predictions.”

Bitcoin is consolidating near recent highs, “while the market remains cautious about short-term volatility,” stated Deribit.

In addition to today’s batch of Bitcoin options, there are around 243,000 Ethereum contracts that are also expiring, with a notional value of $750 million, a max pain point of $2,900, and a put/call ratio of 1.0. This brings Friday’s combined crypto options expiry notional value to around $5.7 billion.

Crypto Market Outlook

The crypto market rally has continued as the week comes to an end, with total capitalization hitting an all-time high of over $4 trillion. The top three digital assets are driving market momentum at the moment.

Bitcoin has returned to $120,700 during the Friday morning Asian trading session as it erases weekly losses and moves to 2% from its all-time high.

Ethereum is surging with an 8% daily gain to reach $3,600, its highest level since early January. The move has been primarily driven by huge ETF inflows and a new wave of Ethereum treasury companies.

Meanwhile, XRP has hit an all-time high of $3.64 following a monumental 20% surge on the day.