Bitcoin has surged 3.9% at $20,626, and Ether is up 5.8% at $1,108 ahead of Friday’s weekly options expiry, the quarter’s last that also coincides with the futures expiry.
Options open interest on Deribit shows over $2 billion in notional for Bitcoin and $1 billion for Ether options.
Gordon Grant and Noelle Acheson from Genesis notes that it would be the largest on-exchange expiry on the horizon by a margin of 39% and 33% of the total open interest on BTC and ETH exchange.
The analysts add that the Bitcoin options expiring on Friday mostly put for strikes at the current price levels, with the notional open interest concentrated around the $20k strike.
The upcoming expiration is expected to affect the price action of Bitcoin and Ether around the levels with a concentration of options. BTC and ETH dropped lower than $20k and $1k over the weekend.
The comments come as the cryptocurrency market struggles to consolidate after a recent decline amid the Federal Reserve to hike in interest rates aimed at taming the rising inflation rates.
The bearish momentum has been further aggravated by the collapse of TerraUSD and insolvency concerns at Three Arrows Capital.
Source: Bloomberg
