Bitcoin and Ether are heading into a quarterly options expiry with roughly $18.1 billion in notional value on the line, and positioning still leans bullish. But that number is just a snapshot, not a prophecy. Options books are full of hedges, spreads, and dealer inventory, not just straight-up bets.
- Calls outweigh puts in both BTC and ETH
- Bitcoin dominates the expiry by a wide margin
- $90, 000 and $100, 000 are the key BTC strike zones
- $3, 000 to $4, 000 is where ETH call interest clusters
- Expiry lands Friday at 08:00 UTC
Coinbase Markets said Bitcoin and Ethereum options carrying roughly $18.1 billion in notional value are heading into the Sept. 25 quarterly expiry, with calls outweighing puts in both markets. That means the open-interest mix leans to the upside, but it does not mean traders are guaranteed to get the prices they’re crowding into.
For readers less familiar with options: these are contracts that expire on a set date, and traders use them for speculation, hedging, and risk management. A big expiry can matter because market makers and large holders may adjust hedges into settlement, which can add short-term pressure around heavily traded strike prices.
One important wrinkle up front: the numbers cited here come from different snapshots and different reporting cuts. Coinbase’s figure is one read on the market, while a separate Deribit-sourced snapshot taken later showed a slightly larger combined total of $18.29 billion. That gap is normal. It reflects timing, methodology, and a market that keeps moving right up to expiry.
The simplest read on the structure is this: Bitcoin is doing most of the heavy lifting, Ether is also call-heavy, and both books look more bullish than bearish on paper. The catch is the part too many traders skip when they get excited about a headline number.
Open interest is not a forecast. It shows outstanding contracts, not a guaranteed price target. A pile of calls at a strike can reflect bullish speculation, but it can also reflect hedges, spreads, and market-makers balancing risk. Translation: a crowded strike is not a magic magnet.
Coinbase Markets said Bitcoin’s open-interest put/call ratio stood at 0.66, while its 24-hour volume ratio was lower at 0.37. Ether’s open-interest put/call ratio was 0.61, with a 24-hour volume ratio of 0.55. In plain English: traders are holding more bullish than bearish positions, and the recent flow has been even more BTC-heavy than ETH-heavy.
A Deribit-sourced snapshot taken at 03:53 UTC on Sept. 23 put Bitcoin inverse-option open interest at $16.13 billion and Ether at $2.16 billion, for a combined total of $18.29 billion. That same snapshot showed $9.61 billion in BTC call open interest versus $6.52 billion in puts, for a put/call ratio of 0.68.
Bitcoin is clearly the main event. Coinbase identified $90, 000 and $100, 000 as major BTC call-interest zones, which is a long way above where spot was trading early Wednesday near $86, 500. During the Sept. 23 session, BTC traded between roughly $86, 149 and $86, 791.
That’s after a sharp move higher. Bitcoin climbed from around $76, 000 on Sept. 17 to above $86, 000 this week, and it hit an eight-month high above $87, 000 on Sept. 21. The market has already done a good chunk of the work before expiry, which can fuel more upside chasing, or trigger profit-taking from traders who don’t want to leave gains on the table.
Ether’s options book is smaller, but the setup still matters. In the Deribit-sourced figures, ETH had $1.34 billion in call open interest and $820.1 million in puts, for a put/call ratio of 0.61. Coinbase said ETH call interest is spread through the $3, 000-$4, 000 range.
That range sits comfortably above spot. Ether was trading close to $2, 760 early Sept. 23, after closing near $2, 753 on Tuesday and trading between roughly $2, 750 and $2, 766 during Wednesday’s session. On Sept. 16, ETH was near $2, 416, and it later reached an intraday high above $2, 805 on Sept. 21.
Reuters reported that Ether had broken above technical resistance near $2, 661.52 and highlighted $3, 050 as one possible upside level if momentum continues. That is a chart-based view, not a guarantee. Technical levels can be useful markers, but they are still scenarios, not destiny.
That distinction matters more than ever around expiry. Deribit’s quarterly BTC and ETH options expire on the last Friday of March, June, September and December at 08:00 UTC. PerpFinder’s methodology says the delivery price is based on the relevant index’s time-weighted average between 07:30 UTC and 08:00 UTC.
That 30-minute window is where settlement gets decided, and traders often watch it closely if spot is sitting near a busy strike. The result can be some last-minute hedging noise, especially when the market is already stretched in one direction. But a noisy settlement window still isn’t the same thing as a guaranteed pin to any one level.
Coinbase had already flagged a smaller version of this setup on Sept. 15, when combined BTC and ETH options open interest for the quarterly expiry stood at roughly $16.6 billion. At that point, Bitcoin accounted for $14.73 billion and Ether for $1.92 billion, with BTC’s put/call ratio at 0.52 and ETH’s at 0.57.
Coinbase’s earlier snapshot also identified a BTC max-pain level near $72, 000 and an ETH max-pain area around $2, 200. Max pain is the theoretical price where the greatest number of options expire worthless. Some traders treat it like gospel, which is a bit much. It’s a rough concept, not a law of nature.
The bigger picture is straightforward. This is a large, call-skewed quarterly expiry, with Bitcoin carrying the bulk of the notional exposure and Ether showing a smaller but still bullish tilt. If any expiry-related pressure shows up in spot, BTC is the more likely place to feel it first, simply because the book is much bigger.
There’s also a common mistake worth avoiding: notional value is not the same as fresh capital. It measures the dollar value of the underlying position, not the premium paid or the amount of new money suddenly flooding in. Because BTC and ETH have risen since the earlier Sept. 15 snapshot, the notional total can grow even if contract counts don’t surge at the same pace.
That’s why the headline number is useful, but incomplete. It tells you how crowded the field is, not who’s about to win the game. Options positioning can influence short-term trading, especially near expiry, but it does not force the market to obey a neat little target that looks good on a chart.
Key questions and takeaways
-
How big is the Sept. 25 expiry?
Roughly $18.1 billion in BTC and ETH options, according to Coinbase Markets. -
Which asset dominates the expiry?
Bitcoin by a wide margin. BTC makes up the bulk of the notional value and is the more likely asset to feel expiry-related flow. -
Are calls or puts in control?
Calls outweigh puts in both markets, which points to a bullish tilt in positioning. -
What BTC strike levels matter most?
Coinbase highlighted $90, 000 and $100, 000 as major call-interest zones. -
What ETH strike levels matter most?
Coinbase said call interest is spread through the $3, 000-$4, 000 range. -
Does big open interest guarantee those prices?
No. Open interest can reflect hedging, spreads, and market-making, not just directional bets. Only actual spot trading and settlement behavior around expiry decide where the market ends up. -
When do the contracts expire?
The quarterly contracts expire on Sept. 25 at 08:00 UTC. -
How is the settlement price determined?
PerpFinder says the delivery price uses a time-weighted average of the relevant index between 07:30 UTC and 08:00 UTC. -
Has positioning increased since Sept. 15?
Yes. Coinbase’s combined reading rose from roughly $16.6 billion to about $18.1 billion by Sept. 23.
The cleanest read: the expiry is large, call-heavy, and heavily skewed toward Bitcoin. That supports a bullish tone in positioning, but it does not lock the market into any specific strike. Traders can hedge, roll, or unwind right up to settlement, and that is usually where the interesting stuff happens.
For more context on how the current setup compares with previous expiries, see the recent coverage of Coinbase sees $18.1B BTC, ETH options expire Friday and the similar report at Coinbase sees $18.1B BTC, ETH options expire Friday.
Broader market watchers also flagged the same expiry theme in Nearly $10 Billion April Options Expiry Puts Bitcoin and, while Deribit’s own framework for Options Expiries and Futures Contracts Overview helps explain why settlement windows can get so twitchy.
That matters because $6.4 billion bitcoin options expiry may amplify volatility is not some exotic one-off headline. It is a recurring feature of crypto derivatives markets, where size can be intimidating and still not mean much on its own.
For readers tracking the bigger derivatives picture, recent coverage of Bitcoin Options Market Hits $30B Milestone with $380K Call showed how fast the market can become packed with lofty strikes and speculative noise.
And if you want a sharper read on positioning, two earlier updates, Bitcoin Options Traders Stay Bullish as $70K Calls Dominate and Bitcoin Options Traders Buy $70K Puts as Bulls Hedge, show how quickly sentiment can swing from euphoria to hedging when traders stop pretending risk doesn’t exist.
Further reading
For a deeper look at how big expiries can whip up short-term volatility, this is worth a glance:
