{"id":34706,"date":"2026-07-17T06:07:01","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T06:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/how-1-2b-bitcoin-options-expiry-could-shape-the-next-btc-move\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T06:07:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T06:07:22","slug":"how-1-2b-bitcoin-options-expiry-could-shape-the-next-btc-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/how-1-2b-bitcoin-options-expiry-could-shape-the-next-btc-move\/","title":{"rendered":"How $1.2B Bitcoin options expiry could shape the next BTC move"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-detail__content blocks\">\n<p class=\"is-style-lead\">Bitcoin and Ethereum options worth about $1.43 billion expired on July 17 as crypto markets remained within established trading ranges.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div id=\"cn-block-summary-block_b6db44b0a0fcfdb7f6f175ba2df02fa0\" class=\"cn-block-summary\">\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__nav tabs\">\n        <span class=\"tabs__item is-selected\">Summary<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Bitcoin options worth $1.2 billion expired as BTC remained inside its month-long trading range Friday.<\/li>\n<li>Ethereum\u2019s 1.61 put-call ratio showed persistent demand for puts as traders remained sharply divided Friday.<\/li>\n<li>Greeks.live said bullish block trades increased, while overall options activity stayed muted amid low volatility.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .cn-block-summary --><\/p>\n<p>According to <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/GreeksLive\/status\/2077950707328839811?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Greeks.live data<\/a>, 19,000 Bitcoin options worth $1.2 billion expired with a put-call ratio of 0.9 and a maximum pain point of $63,000.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, 123,000 Ethereum options worth $230 million expired with a put-call ratio of 1.61. The maximum pain level stood at $1,800. The elevated ratio showed that put positions continued to outweigh calls, extending a trend that Greeks.live said has lasted for about a month.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<p>Bitcoin remained above $60,000 during the week and has traded mainly between $60,000 and $65,000 for more than a month. Despite sharp moves in parts of the U.S. stock market, crypto volatility remained relatively subdued. The latest weekly expiry represented only about 5% of outstanding options, while open interest declined slightly amid fewer short-term trading opportunities.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Ethereum options show deeper divide as Bitcoin volatility stays low<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Greeks.live said Bitcoin gamma exposure remained concentrated around the $64,000 and $70,000 strikes. Ethereum\u2019s exposure was more widely spread between $1,825 and $2,000 as some traders used shallow out-of-the-money options to position for a possible rebound. The firm also said large bullish trades increased, led mainly by short-term bull spreads.<\/p>\n<p>However, Ethereum\u2019s put-call ratio continued to show strong demand for downside positions. \u201cThe proportion of put options has exceeded 1 for a consecutive month and continues to rise,\u201d Greeks.live said, describing the current positioning as unusually divided between bullish and bearish traders.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">July 17 Options Data<\/p>\n<p>19,000 BTC options expired, with a put-call ratio of 0.9, a maximum pain point of $63,000, and a notional value of $1.2 billion.<br \/>123,000 ETH options expired, with a put-call ratio of 1.61, a maximum pain point of $1,800, and a notional value of $230 million.\u2026 <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/nlzAux4vBa\">pic.twitter.com\/nlzAux4vBa<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Greeks.live (@GreeksLive) <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/GreeksLive\/status\/2077950707328839811?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 17, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The latest expiry follows several weeks of cautious derivatives positioning. As previously reported by crypto.news, Bitcoin and Ethereum options worth about $1.75 billion expired on July 10, with Bitcoin\u2019s maximum pain level at $62,000 and Ethereum\u2019s put-call ratio at 1.26.<\/p>\n<p>A week earlier, $1.9 billion in Bitcoin options expired while traders continued to watch the $60,000 area. Ethereum already showed heavier demand for downside protection at that time, with its put-call ratio standing at 1.29.<\/p>\n<p>The July 17 expiry was smaller than major monthly and quarterly settlements, reducing the likelihood that the event alone would drive a large spot-market move. Still, Bitcoin traded close to its $63,000 maximum pain level, while Ethereum\u2019s growing put exposure showed that traders remained divided over its near-term direction.<\/p>\n<p>Greeks.live said overall market activity remained subdued despite the increase in bullish block trades. With Bitcoin still locked inside its month-long range, traders continue to watch the $64,000 and $70,000 options concentrations for signs of the next broader move.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bitcoin and Ethereum options worth about $1.43 billion expired on July 17 as crypto markets remained within established trading ranges.\u00a0 Summary Bitcoin options worth $1.2 billion expired as BTC remained&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34706"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34708,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34706\/revisions\/34708"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}