Bitcoin and Ethereum options worth approximately $18.1 billion will expire on September 25. According to Coinbase Markets, the put-call ratio for Bitcoin options is at 0.66, with a trading volume of 0.37 over the past 24 hours. For Ethereum, the put-call ratio is 0.61, and the trading volume is 0.55. Both markets are described as call-oriented, with this bias being even stronger in recent trades, especially for Bitcoin.
According to Coinbase, open interest in Bitcoin calls is concentrated at strikes of $90,000 and $100,000. With BTC priced around $86,500 at the start of Wednesday, the $90,000 level was approximately 4% above spot, and $100,000 was nearly 16% higher. During the session on September 23, Bitcoin traded in a range of approximately $86,149–$86,791. As of 03:53 UTC on September 23, Deribit data shows open interest in BTC calls at $9.61 billion versus $6.52 billion in puts, giving a put-call ratio of 0.68. Since September 15, when Coinbase estimated the total open interest for the quarterly expiration at $16.6 billion (BTC - $14.73 billion, ETH - $1.92 billion, put/call 0.52 and 0.57 respectively), the market has grown significantly. At that time, BTC accounted for about 89% of the volume, with max-pain levels near $72,000 for Bitcoin and $2,200 for Ethereum. BTC's rise was supported by an increase from approximately $76,000 on September 17 to above $86,000 this week, reaching an eight-month high above $87,000 on September 21.
Ethereum's Friday portfolio is smaller in dollar terms but also skewed towards calls. According to Deribit, open interest in ETH calls is about $1.34 billion versus $820.1 million in puts, corresponding to a ratio of 0.61. Interest is distributed in the range of $3,000–$4,000. With Ethereum priced around $2,760 at the start of September 23, the $3,000 strike was approximately 8.7% above spot, and $4,000 was nearly 45% higher. During the session, ETH traded in a range of about $2,750–$2,766 after closing near $2,753 on Tuesday. Since mid-last week, Ethereum has risen significantly: on September 16, the asset traded around $2,416, then moved through $2,600 and reached an intraday high above $2,805 on September 21. Reuters noted a breakout of technical resistance around $2,661.52 and indicated $3,050 as a potential growth level if momentum continues.
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