As Friday arrives, a significant volume of Bitcoin and Ether options is set to expire, coinciding with a period of market adjustment.

Bitcoin Options Expiry

Approximately 44,000 Bitcoin options contracts are set to expire today, totaling around $4.8 billion in value. This expiration is larger than last week’s but is not expected to majorly influence spot markets, which are on a downward trend this week.

With the U.S. government in a state of shutdown and trade tariffs still a concern, the overarching trend towards ending quantitative tightening and implementing rate cuts may provide a bullish outlook for crypto.

This week’s Bitcoin options contracts present a put/call ratio of 0.83, indicating a slight prevalence of long contracts nearing expiration, as bearish positions gain ground. The maximum pain point is pegged at $116,000, according to data from Coinglass.

Currently, the open interest (OI)—or the total number of Bitcoin options contracts that remain active—is highest at the $140,000 strike, amounting to $2.2 billion on Deribit. There is also significant interest at the $125k and $120k levels, while short sellers are targeting the $110k, $108k, and even $95k strike prices, which have also reached meaningful OI.

Total Bitcoin options open interest across exchanges is nearing $61 billion, approaching an all-time high, says Coinglass.

“Skew across maturities has flipped deeper into negative territory as demand for downside protection rises.”
BTC options flow showing renewed appetite for puts over calls. source
— Deribit (@DeribitOfficial) October 16, 2025

Market data also reflects a surge in bearish trades, as reported by crypto derivatives provider Greeks Live.

Spot Market Outlook

The total market capitalization has dipped, declining 2.7% to $3.77 trillion at the end of the week. This marks a near 14% decrease from its peak on October 7.

Bitcoin has led the declines, sliding to $108,000 late Thursday, with limited signs of recovery observed during Asian trading on Friday morning. Ether has also faced challenges, falling back to $3,900.

The altcoin market is witnessing significant losses, especially for BNB, Solana, Dogecoin, Sui, and Avalanche.