CoinDesk Analysis Team
CoinDesk
Traders expect bitcoin to rally after Friday’s monthly options expiry, a Twitter poll conducted on Thursday by Deribit, the world’s largest crypto options exchange, showed.
Nearly 50% of the 517 votes favored “UpOnly”, or the cryptocurrency extending its bounce from recent lows near $40,000. Meanwhile 21% voted for “Nuke” – indicating for a price drop. A total of 74,200 bitcoin options contracts worth $3.3 billion are due to expire today. Deribit alone is settling nearly 65,000 contracts at 08:30 UTC, the designated expiry time on the dominant exchange.
Most of the open interest is concentrated in the higher strike call options and will expire worthlessly.
This year, the options market has gained notoriety, with bitcoin witnessing pullbacks while heading into the expiry and regaining an uptrend following the event. The pattern was observed in the first four months of the year and in August.
Some analysts say the options market is still quite small to have a material impact on the spot price. As of Thursday, bitcoin’s global options volume was around $500 million, amounting to just 1.25% of the spot market volume of $40 billion, according to data sources Skew and CoinGecko.
Bitcoin is currently trading largely unchanged on the day near $44,900 amid signs of stability in traditional markets. The S&P 500 index closed above the crucial 50-day moving average on Thursday.
All writers’ opinions are their own and do not constitute financial advice in any way whatsoever. Nothing published by CoinDesk constitutes an investment recommendation, nor should any data or Content published by CoinDesk be relied upon for any investment activities. CoinDesk strongly recommends that you perform your own independent research and/or speak with a qualified investment professional before making any financial decisions.
Recommended Content
Editors’ Picks
Coinbase lists WIF perpetual futures contract as it unveils plans for Aevo, Ethena, and Etherfi
Dogwifhat perpetual futures began trading on Coinbase International Exchange and Coinbase Advanced on Thursday. However, the futures contract failed to trigger a rally for the popular meme coin.
Stripe looks to bring back crypto payments as stablecoin market cap hits all-time high
Stripe announced on Thursday that it would add support for USDC stablecoin, as the stablecoin market exploded in March, according to reports by Cryptocompare.
Ethereum cancels rally expectations as Consensys sues SEC over ETH security status
Ethereum (ETH) appears to have returned to its consolidating move on Thursday, canceling rally expectations. This comes after Consensys filed a lawsuit against the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) and insider sources informing Reuters of the unlikelihood of a spot ETH ETF approval in May.
FBI cautions against non-KYC Bitcoin and crypto money transmitting services as SEC goes after MetaMask
US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) has issued a caution to Bitcoiners and cryptocurrency market enthusiasts, coming on the same day as when the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is on the receiving end of a lawsuit, with a new player adding to the list of parties calling for the regulator to restrain its hand.
Bitcoin: BTC post-halving rally could be partially priced in Premium
Bitcoin (BTC) price briefly slipped below the $60,000 level for the last three days, attracting buyers in this area as the fourth BTC halving is due in a few hours. Is the halving priced in for Bitcoin? Or will the pioneer crypto note more gains in the coming days?