On May 31, a substantial number of Bitcoin and Ether options expired, with 69,000 Bitcoin options valued at $4.7 billion and 920,000 Ether options valued at $3.5 billion reaching their expiration. Historically, the expiration of cryptocurrency options contracts has been associated with increased price volatility in the crypto market.

According to Deribit data, the put/call ratio for expired Bitcoin options, with Bitcoin trading at $66,990, stood at 0.61, indicating a higher number of expiring calls (long contracts) compared to puts (short contracts). Conversely, Ether options had a put/call ratio of 0.46, suggesting a similar sentiment but with fewer long contracts.

The put/call ratio (PCR) serves as a technical indicator reflecting trader market sentiment, with a PCR below 0.7 signaling strong bullish sentiment and a PCR above 1 indicating strong bearish sentiment.

The maximum pain points for Bitcoin and Ether, where most losses are incurred by leverage traders, are $66,000 and $3,300, respectively. Currently, Bitcoin is trading at $68,210, $2,000 above its pain point, while Ether is trading at $3,738, more than $400 above its pain point.

Millions in open interest (OI) are in long positions with strike prices ranging from $70,000 to $100,000, with a total notional value of all outstanding Bitcoin options contracts amounting to $19 billion.

Following the approval of the spot ETH ETF by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in May, which was perceived as a bullish event for the crypto market, Ether prices surged by 20%. However, the SEC only approved the 19b-4 filing, postponing the actual listing for trading. Since then, the crypto market has experienced a sideways bearish movement, with Ether and Bitcoin prices struggling to surpass $4,000 and $70,000, respectively. The market currently reflects a bearish momentum, correcting from the bullish surge witnessed over the past two weeks.