Bitcoin Loses Its Price Anchor After $6.4 Billion Options Expiry. Will the Fed Replace It?

Bitcoin options worth $6.4 billion settled Friday morning at $79,682, effectively removing the hedging flows that had held BTC near $80,000 all week.

Now that the pin is gone, what replaces it arrives in stages, starting with Kevin Warsh at 10 a.m. Eastern time.

What the $6.4 Billion Bitcoin Options Expiry Cleared

Approximately 81,700 contracts settled at 8 a.m. UTC on Deribit, with the official settlement price at $79,682.33. Calls at the $80,000 strike expired worthless, missing by just $318. Calls at $75,000 paid out.

Those two strikes held the most money in the batch. They also explain the week's trading range.

When traders sell options, market makers hedge by trading the underlying asset. They sell BTC as price rises toward a heavy strike. They buy as it falls away.

That creates an invisible magnet, and Bitcoin sat inside it for three days, much as it did during previous large options expiries.

With today's options expiry, the magnet switched off at 08:00 UTC on Deribit.

The Ceiling Moved to $82,000

Analyst Ted Pillows flags a sell wall of roughly 1,052 BTC at $80,500 seen across four venues.

As of 11:24 a.m. UTC, only 101 BTC now rests at $80,500 on Kraken and Coinbase combined. The wall has largely gone.