On May 31, a total open interest of $4.7 billion in Bitcoin and $3.5 billion in ETH expired on Deribit, the leading exchange in the derivative market. The event occurred at 8:00 am UTC, and the price of BTC fell by 1.8% while ETH recorded a 3% decline within four hours, indicating bearish pressure.
According to the Deribit data, 69,000 Bitcoin (BTC) options expired with a Put Call Ratio of 0.37, indicating a bullish sentiment as investors favored call options. A low PCR indicates marker optimism and significant market activity and interest in BTC options.
The put/call ratio (PCR) is a technical indicator that reflects trader market sentiment. A PCR below 0.7 is considered a strong bullish sentiment, while a PCR above 1 is considered a strong bearish sentiment.
Max pain for Bitcoin at $66,000, ETH at $3,300
The maximum pain point at which the leverage traders made the most losses for Bitcoin is $68,200; for Ether (ETH), the maximum pain point is $3,300. The maximum pain point is the price at which the holders’ of the asset will suffer the most loss.
BTC is currently trading at $68,210, $2,000 above the pain point, and ETH is trading at $3,738, more than $400 above its pain point.
The option expiry is often followed by a sharp price movements, however, the impact is temporary. The market mostly bounces back the next day, offsetting initial volatility.
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Post-spot ETH approval hangover
The spot ETH ETF approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in May was a significant and bullish event for the crypto market. ETH prices rose 20% in May in anticipation of the approval. However, the SEC only approved the 19b-4 filing, thus delaying the actual listing for trading.
Since the ETH ETF approval, the crypto market has shown a bearish sideways movement, with ETH stuck below $4,000 and BTC below the $70,000 price barrier. Currently, the crypto market is experiencing bearish momentum, correcting from the bullish surge of the past two weeks.
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