Crypto markets have largely maintained their gains this week, driven by Ethereum and the US SEC's approval of spot exchange-traded funds.

However, approximately $1.4 billion in Bitcoin options contracts are set to expire on May 24.

The 21,000 contract expiration is relatively minor compared to the significant expiration on May 31, when $4.3 billion worth of options will expire, according to Deribit.

Bitcoin Options Expiry

The put/call ratio for this week's Bitcoin options contracts is 0.88, indicating a fairly balanced distribution of long and short positions, with slightly more calls expiring. The max pain point, where most option buyers lose their premium, is $67,000.

Long positions dominate open interest (OI), with around $830 million at the $70,000 strike price. Higher strike prices also show substantial OI, with about $843 million at $100,000, according to Deribit.

The $60,000 strike price has the highest OI for put contracts, totaling $388 million. Open interest refers to the number or value of unsettled contracts, suggesting bulls expect much higher BTC prices.

Bitcoin OI by expiry. Source: Deribit

Along with today’s Bitcoin options, around 354,000 Ethereum contracts, valued at $1.5 billion, are expiring today. These contracts have a put/call ratio of 0.57, indicating more calls expiring than puts.

Derivatives traders have been speculating on ETH ahead of the anticipated SEC decision. There is approximately $515 million in OI at the $4,000 strike price as bulls anticipate further momentum.

"BTC pulled back as expected, compared to the strong support for ETH's price, with ETH's current weekly weighted implied volatility (IV) still over 100%, while BTC's current weekly IV is only 50%," commented crypto derivatives software provider Greeks Live.

Crypto Market Impact

Nearly $3 billion in BTC and ETH options will expire today, but the impact on spot markets is usually minimal. Total market capitalization has decreased by 1.3% to $2.68 trillion, mainly due to a 2.3% drop in Bitcoin prices, bringing the asset down to $67,400 at the time of writing.

Ethereum experienced significant volatility leading up to yesterday's decision but is now stable at $3,730.

Altcoins showed mixed results, with gains for Chainlink (LINK), PEPE, and Ethereum Classic (ETC), but losses for Solana (SOL), Dogecoin (DOGE), and Toncoin (TON).