Roald Dahl’s Take on the Spooky Crypto Expiry!

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Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, where numbers danced and dollars flew like flocks of geese, something rather peculiar was about to happen. On the magical day of Friday, August 22, a grand total of 33,700 Bitcoin options contracts, worth a whopping $3.8 billion, were set to vanish into thin air! 🎩✨

Now, you might think, “Oh my, what a massive amount!” But fear not, dear reader, for this expiry event was actually smaller than the one last week. The spot markets, those mischievous little sprites, had already begun their ascent after a brief mid-week tumble. 🌈🚀

But wait, there’s more! All eyes were glued to the Federal Reserve Chair, who was scheduled to speak at the enchanting Jackson Hole symposium. A single word from this wise sage could stir the markets into a frenzy of excitement or dread. And wouldn’t you know it, the markets were already twitching in anticipation. 😱🔍

Bitcoin Options Expiry: A Tale of Shorts and Longs

This week’s batch of Bitcoin options contracts had a put/call ratio of 1.32, which means that the short sellers, those sneaky foxes, had more contracts expiring than the longs. The maximum pain point, a place where the most tears would be shed, was set at a dizzying $118,000. Ouch! 💔

But the real magic happened at the $140,000 strike price, where the open interest (OI) surged to nearly $3 billion on Deribit. There was also a tidy sum of $2 billion OI at the $120,000 and $130,000 strike prices, as the bullish speculators, those daring adventurers, loaded up on contracts. Yet, the $110,000 strike price remained a favorite among the shorts, with $1.7 billion in OI. 🤑📊

And if you thought that was all, think again! The total Bitcoin futures OI stood at a staggering $81 billion, though it had fallen from its recent record highs, according to the wise sages at CoinGlass. 📜🔍

Options Expiry Alert
At 08:00 UTC tomorrow, over $4.8B in crypto options are set to expire on Deribit.
$BTC: $3.83B notional | Put/Call: 1.31 | Max Pain: $118K
$ETH: $948M notional | Put/Call: 0.82 | Max Pain: $4,250

BTC expiry tilts put-heavy, while ETH call interest…

– Deribit (@DeribitOfficial) August 21, 2025

The crypto derivatives provider Greeks Live chimed in, saying, “With the Fed’s Jackson Hole meeting approaching, opinions in the options market are divided.”

“Short-term implied volatility declined, indicating that institutional investors are not very optimistic that this meeting will bring about significant volatility.”

But the story doesn’t end there! Alongside the Bitcoin options, a whopping 220,000 Ethereum contracts, worth $947 million, were also set to expire. The max pain for these contracts was set at $4,250, with a put/call ratio of 0.82. This brought the combined crypto options expiry notional value to a grand total of $4.8 billion. 🎉💰

Crypto Market Outlook: A Rollercoaster Ride

The market recovery was as fleeting as a summer breeze, and the sell-off resumed this Friday morning in Asia. Total capitalization dipped 2% to $3.89 trillion, with the altcoins leading the charge in the downward spiral. 📉😢

Bitcoin, the king of the crypto world, had retreated to the support level of $112,000 but managed to recover to $113,000 by the time of writing. However, the mood was decidedly gloomy, and further losses seemed more likely than a big pump. 🤷‍♂️💔

Ethereum, ever the loyal sidekick, mirrored its big brother’s movements, dropping 1.7% to hover just above the $4,200 support level. For now, at least. 🐦📉

And the altcoins? Well, they were in even worse shape, with heavier losses for Binance Coin, Solana, Chainlink, and Hyperliquid. It was a day of reckoning, a day when the markets decided to play a rather cruel joke on the hopeful investors. 😂🚫

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2025-08-22 08:03