Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP pull back as $18 billion expiry nears

Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP pulled back Wednesday as traders prepared for Friday's $18 billion options expiry. The expiry covers roughly $15.9 billion in Bitcoin options and $2.1 billion in Ethereum options. The options expire at 8:00 UTC. The expiry is the largest of 2026. The expiring options represent 37% of Deribit's outstanding Bitcoin open interest. The options book had a put/call ratio of 0.69. Bitcoin's maximum pain level is $75,000. The current Bitcoin spot price is near $85,500. Deribit describes $75,000 as a level where option sellers benefit most if the price reaches it by settlement. About a third of the entire options book is already in the money. Open interest is concentrated around Bitcoin call strikes from $85,000 to $100,000. Defensive puts are positioned at $60,000, $70,000 and $75,000. Deribit Chief Commercial Officer Jean-David Péquignot said those positions create a layered support floor beneath the market. Deribit CEO Luuk Strijers said dealer hedging helped fuel Bitcoin's move from $80,000 to $87,000. Strijers said dealers that are short calls have to buy spot as prices rise to stay hedged. He said the pinning effect could fade after Friday's settlement. He said volatility could then increase and the trading range could reset. Crypto analyst Crypto Tice said Ethereum rallied 75% over three months. Ethereum rose from $1,510 to $2,650 and cleared April's highs. Tice said Ethereum accumulation on Binance reached a three-year high. Monthly Ethereum withdrawal transactions reached 90,000. That level was double the level at the start of the year. Tice said investors were buying Ethereum and moving it into cold storage immediately.