Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP Slide as $18 Billion Options Expiry Looms: What’s Going On?

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), and XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) all pulled back Wednesday as traders braced for Friday’s $18 billion options expiry, the largest of 2026.

What the Options Expiry Means

Deribit CEO Luuk Strijers told CoinDesk that roughly $15.9 billion in Bitcoin options and $2.1 billion in Ethereum options expire Friday at 8:00 UTC, wiping out 37% of Deribit’s entire outstanding BTC open interest in one shot. 

Positioning skews heavily bullish, with a put/call ratio of 0.69, meaning the book was built for higher prices.

Maximum pain for Bitcoin sits at $75,000, well below the current spot price near $85,500. Deribit calls that level a “soft magnet for price into expiry,” the point where option sellers benefit most if spot drifts there by settlement. 

About a third of the entire book already sits in the money.

Deribit Chief Commercial Officer Jean-David Péquignot added that open interest concentrates around the $85,000 to $100,000 call strikes, while defensive puts anchor lower at $60,000, $70,000, and $75,000, creating a multi-layered support floor beneath the market.

Why Friday Could Bring Extra Volatility

Strijers explained that dealer hedging helped fuel Bitcoin’s recent run from $80,000 to $87,000, since dealers short calls have to buy spot as prices rise to stay hedged.