Will markets fall further as $5.3 billion crypto options expire?

Another Friday is upon us, and that means more Bitcoin and Ether options contracts are expiring as spot markets begin to consolidate.

Approximately 39,000 Bitcoin options contracts expire on Friday, October 10 and have a notional value of approximately $4.3 billion.

This expiration event is slightly larger than last week’s, but is unlikely to have any impact on spot markets, which have been largely sideways in recent days.

The US government remains in shutdown mode and the dollar continues to weaken, but the crypto markets have largely shrugged this off.

Bitcoin options expire

This week’s batch of Bitcoin options contracts has a put/call ratio of 1.1, meaning there are slightly more short contracts expiring than long contracts as the bulls calm down. According to Coinglass, the maximum pain is around $117,000.

Open interest (OI), or the value or number of Bitcoin options contracts yet to expire, is highest at $140,000, which has reached $2.4 billion at this strike price on Deribit. There is also over $2 billion in OI at $120,000, $125,000 and $130,000, but short sellers have targeted $110,000 as the hot strike price with $1.3 billion in OI.

The total OI of BTC options across all exchanges is approximately $60 billion, which is climbing back toward peak levels, according to Coinglass.

🚨 Options Expiry Warning 🚨
More than $5.3 billion worth of crypto options expire tomorrow.$BTC: $4.3 billion notional | Move/Call: 1.12 | Maximum pain: $117,000$ETH: $0.94 billion notional | Move/Call: 0.9 | Maximum pain: $4,400

BTC traders are split between $110,000 puts and $120,000 calls, while ETH flows more… pic.twitter.com/IgzyHTtBEv

— Deribit (@DeribitOfficial) October 9, 2025

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“In the options market, implied volatility has increased, skew has become neutral and call-heavy flows dominate,” Glassnode reported this week. “Momentum remains strong, but bullish positioning is becoming increasingly crowded,” it added.

In addition to the current crop of Bitcoin options, there are also approximately 217,000 Ethereum contracts expiring, with a notional value of $940 million, a max pain of $4,400, and a put/call ratio of 0.9.

The total ETH options OI across all exchanges is approximately $16 billion. This brings the combined notional value of Friday’s crypto options expiration to approximately $5.3 billion.

Crypto Market Outlook

The crypto markets haven’t changed much in the past 24 hours, with total capitalization remaining at $4.23 trillion.

Bitcoin reached an intraday high of $123,500, but retreated to trade around $121,000 during the Asian session on Friday morning. The assets are down 4% from their all-time high and are heading towards support at $120,000.

The Ether price briefly fell below $4,300 in late trading on Thursday, but recovered to around $4,350 at the time of writing. The altcoins were mainly in the red on Friday morning.