Data: The largest annual cryptocurrency options expiration, nearly $28 billion worth of options settle today

Deep Tide TechFlow News, December 26 — GreeksLive Research Institute announced that December 26 marks the largest options expiration day in cryptocurrency history, with nearly $28 billion in options contracts expiring. Specifically:

267,000 BTC options expire, Put Call Ratio of 0.35, maximum pain point at $95,000, with a notional value of $23.6 billion

1.28 million ETH options expire, Put Call Ratio of 0.45, maximum pain point at $3,100, with a notional value of $3.71 billion

Market background: Bitcoin and Ethereum performed poorly in Q4 2025, with significant price drops and four consecutive months of decline. Currently, BTC has fallen below the $90,000 mark, and ETH has dropped below $3,000, with overall market sentiment generally subdued.

Implied volatility: Due to factors such as decreasing volatility and the Christmas holiday, BTC’s main-term IV averages around 40%, while ETH’s main-term IV is about 60%, both considered moderate levels this year.

Before expiration, large options trading volume and trading share continued to rise, mainly driven by rebalancing needs. After expiration, quarterly options expiring in March became the largest holdings, accounting for over 30% of total positions, primarily out-of-the-money call options.

Analysts pointed out that due to industry cycle factors and slow development, Q4 this year has been the worst-performing quarter in history. The current market environment is more suitable for seller strategies.

BTC1.5%
ETH1.7%
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