Will Crypto Markets Fall Further When $6.3 Billion Bitcoin Options Expire?

The end of another week and the end of the month means more expiration for crypto options as spot markets continue to pull back.

Approximately 85,500 Bitcoin options contracts will expire on Friday, May 29, with a notional value of approximately $6.3 billion. This event is larger than usual for the end of the month, so it may affect the spot markets.

Crypto markets have been in decline all week, with around $120 billion leaving the space as Bitcoin continues to weaken and Ether is crushed.

The escalation of US military action in the Middle East sent investors into panic and the sell-off accelerated.

Bitcoin Options Expiration

This week’s batch of Bitcoin options contracts has a put/call ratio of 0.85, meaning that long and short sellers are roughly equivalent. The maximum pain is around $75,000, according to Coinglass, which is a bit higher than current spot prices, so some could find themselves short of money at expiration.

Open interest (OI), or the value or number of unexpired Bitcoin options contracts, remains highest at the $80,000 strike price on Deribit, at $1.7 billion, but short sellers still have $1.2 billion in OI at $60,000. The total BTC OI options across all exchanges have declined recently and stand at $37.5 billion, according to Coinglass.

Although Bitcoin has fallen to a “very dangerous level,” implied volatility (IV) has not increased significantly, derivatives provider Greeks Live reported on Thursday.

Under these circumstances, today’s expiration appears likely to “significantly alter the current options position structure,” they added.

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“The broader market is still banking on support, and large investors’ concerns about breakout risk have not increased significantly.”

BTC price has started to drop below the Gex concentration zone and open interest resistance will continue to weaken. Meanwhile, since Gex is concentrated around $2,000, ETH has also fallen below Gex’s resistance level.

Although BTC has fallen into a very dangerous situation… pic.twitter.com/INeioAIqMP

– Grecs.live (@GreeksLive) May 28, 2026

In addition to the current batch of Bitcoin options, approximately 650,000 Ethereum contracts are also expiring, with a notional value of $1.3 billion, a maximum pain at $2,200, and a put/call ratio of 0.77. The total ETH OI options across all exchanges is approximately $6.9 billion.

This brings the total notional expiration value of crypto options to approximately $7.6 billion, the largest event in several weeks.

Spot Market Outlook

Markets have been falling all week, with total capitalization falling to $2.55 trillion on Friday morning in Asia, its lowest level since April 13.

BTC managed to recover $73,000 after falling below twice on Thursday, but its market structure remains weak and further losses appear likely.

ETH had reclaimed $2,000 at the time of writing, but also looked very weak and deep in bear market territory.

The crypto could be further pressured by US inflation, which rose at its fastest pace in three years in April, as measured by this week’s PCE report.