TLDR
About $23.6 billion in Bitcoin (BTC) options expired on 26 Dec (UTC), mostly on Deribit, making it a record event per a CoinDesk report. Assumption: interpreting this as the 26 Dec 2025 expiry (UTC).
- Roughly 300,000 BTC option contracts rolled off, per market coverage from AMBCrypto.
- The total expiry across BTC and ETH was about $2728.5 billion, per CoinDesk and Yahoo Finance.
- Positioning skew was bullish (put/call ~0.38), with max pain near $96,000, per CoinDesk.
Deep Dive
1. Notional Size
The BTC portion of the Boxing Day expiry was about $23.6$23.7 billion, the largest on record at Deribit. This figure is widely cited by multiple outlets, including CoinDesk and Yahoo Finance.
Holiday-thinned liquidity can magnify the impact of such large expiries on spot price as hedges unwind. Analysts flagged this seasonal effect in coverage around the event, for example CoinDesk.
A large expiry can remove hedging gravity and open the door to sharper moves once positions settle.
2. Contract Count
Reports put the BTC contract count near 300,000 for this expiry window, a scale consistent with the record notional size. Coverage with contract detail appears in AMBCrypto.
Contract concentration matters because clustering at key strikes (85k puts, 100k116k calls) can pin price into expiry, then release post-settlement, as noted by CoinDesk.
Dense open interest near popular strikes can pin spot into expiry and then contribute to direction once hedges drop.
3. Positioning And Venue
Deribit hosted most of the flow, and positioning skewed bullish (put/call around 0.38) with max pain near $96,000 per CoinDesk. Several outlets reiterated the combined BTC+ETH expiry size (~$2728.5B), including Yahoo Finance.
Analysts also noted implied volatility was relatively contained into the event (BTC DVOL ~45%), suggesting the market expected an orderly settlement, per CoinDesk.
Skew and max pain can hint at short-term direction around expiry, but thin liquidity and holiday calendar can mute or distort signals.
Conclusion
Approximately $23.6$23.7 billion in BTC options (around 300,000 contracts) expired on 26 Dec (UTC), with total BTC+ETH near $2728.5 billion. The size, strike clustering, and holiday conditions set up potential post-expiry volatility as hedges unwind, but implied volatility and positioning suggested a more orderly settlement than prior years.
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