On February 19, Deribit released the Bitcoin and Ethereum options expiry details amidst a volatile market. The crypto market is down by more than 1.8% in the past 24 hours, having over $2.3 trillion in market cap. Both digital assets are trading in the red today.
However, the options expiry data shows a bullish market positioning, especially for Bitcoin.
BTC and ETH options expiry details
Deribit revealed that over $2.4 billion in crypto options will expire on February 20 at 08:00 (UTC).
Over $2.08 billion in BTC options will expire with a Put/Call Ratio of 0.59 and a Max Pain Point of $70,000. Also, $404 million in ETH options will expire tomorrow morning with a Put/Call Ratio of 0.75 and a Max Pain Point of $2,050.
Positioning shows heavy calls across both digital assets, and traders are leaning bullish expecially on BTC. ETH positioning is more balanced, but still constructive, Deribit added.
Meanwhile, a lot of traders have a BTC put at $40,000 open, ahead of tomorrow's expiry. Deep OTM downside protection in case of a sharp price drop is visible, despite most traders being bullish.
Bitcoin and Ethereum price actions
On February 19, both BTC and ETH are showing signs of volatilty towards the end of the week.
BTC price trajectory
At the moment of writing this article, BTC is trading above $66,000, down by 0.9% in the past 24 hours.
The digital asset's price dropped from over $68,000 on February 18, reaching lows at $65,000 levels.
Institutional interest in BTC has taken a break, and on February 18, the US-based BTC ETFs saw their second consecutive day of outflows above $138 million, SoSoValue data shows.
ETH price trajectory
At the moment of writitng, ETH is trading above $1,950, down by more than 1.4% in the past 24 hours.
After surpassing $2,000 on February 18, the ETH price dropped to the $1,900 level and held above it. ETH ETFs also saw an outflow day on February 18, with over $41 millilon in negative flows. This was the first outflow day since February 12.
Both BTC and ETH have recorded volatilty during the Lunar New Year week, as previously predicted.
We'll have to see how the markets react tomorrow, following the crypto options expiry, and if they recover during the weekend. For now, the sentiment is still in the Extreme Fear zone, although there are reasons for optimism, especially crypto support from X.
