Another week comes to a close with the expiration of approximately 30,600 Bitcoin options contracts today, amounting to a notional value of around $2 billion. This expiration is slightly lower than last week’s, suggesting minimal effect on the spot markets.

Crypto markets are currently in a bearish phase, remaining stable over the last week amid declining volume and volatility.

Bitcoin Options Expiry

This week’s options contracts reveal a put/call ratio of 0.59, indicating a higher number of expiring calls than puts. The ‘max pain’ point hovers around $70,000, well above current prices, leading many to end up out of the money.

Open interest (OI) is highest at a strike price of $60,000 with about $1.2 billion, and $1 billion at a $50,000 strike price on Deribit, alongside increasing bearish bets. Overall, Bitcoin options OI has been rising, now totaling $36.5 billion across all exchanges.

“Positioning skews heavily towards calls for both assets, with BTC showing stronger upside potential,” stated Deribit.

Market Observations

Meanwhile, derivatives analyst Laevitas indicated a persistent demand for downside protection, noting recent purchases of 2,140 BTC worth of puts at $58,000.

🚨 Options Expiry Alert 🚨
Tomorrow at 08:00 UTC, over $2.4B in crypto options will expire on Deribit. Bitcoin (BTC): ~$2.0B notional | Put/Call: 0.59 | Max Pain: $70K
Ethereum (ETH): ~$404M notional | Put/Call: 0.75 | Max Pain: $2,050

Positioning skews heavily towards calls across both assets, with… pic.twitter.com/pgl2z4ZGJ6
— Deribit (@DeribitOfficial) February 19, 2026

In addition to Bitcoin, approximately 212,000 Ethereum options contracts are expiring today, valued at around $404 million, with a max pain of $2,050 and a put/call ratio of 0.75. The combined notional value of cryptocurrency options expiries is about $2.4 billion.

Spot Market Outlook

The total market capitalization has been stable for the last 24 hours, remaining around $2.37 trillion, a 46% drop from its peak. Bitcoin has gradually decreased since Monday, reaching a low of $65,700 Thursday evening before slightly recovering to $67,290 as of Friday morning.

Resistance sits around $70,000 with support just above $60,000, marking the nearest targets. Ether prices have stabilized at $1,950, while most altcoins linger at the lower bounds of a bear market.