Bitcoin faces a monthly options expiry of $13.3 billion as trading remains well below the Max pain level

Bitcoin enters the monthly options expiration on Friday after a sharp 35% correction, causing the price to drop to $81,000 before recovering to $87,000. This decline has turned the options market into a focal point as investors shift to a more defensive stance. Deribit data shows a total of 153,778 BTC set to expire, including 92,692 BTC call options and 61,086 BTC put options, with a total notional value of approximately $13.3 billion and a put-call ratio of 0.66.

The max-pain level is at $102,000, indicating that only 26% of contracts ($3.4 billion) are in profit, while the remaining $10 billion are out-of-the-money. The largest cluster of put options is at the $80,000 strike, while call options are concentrated at higher price levels above $120,000. Weak sentiment and a heavily skewed positioning could lead to continued high volatility for BTC as market makers adjust hedges around key strike levels.