Quarterly Bitcoin and Ethereum options expiry positioning

Data from Deribit and Coinbase indicate roughly $16.6 billion of Bitcoin and Ethereum options are positioned to expire on the 2026 Q3 settlement date, scheduled for Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. Bitcoin accounts for the majority of the notional exposure—approximately $14.63–14.73 billion with about 186,000 open BTC contracts—while Ethereum represents roughly $1.92–1.93 billion notional across about 756,100 open ETH contracts. Both markets display a call-heavy tilt: BTC put/call sits near 0.52 and ETH near 0.57, meaning call open interest materially exceeds puts.

Coinbase’s snapshot shows Bitcoin’s largest call concentration around the $70,000 strike, with significant open interest also at $85,000, $90,000 and extending toward $100,000. Ethereum’s largest call cluster is at the $3,000 strike, with roughly 43,000 contracts. Modeled max-pain levels are about $72,000 for Bitcoin and $2,200 for Ethereum; these levels lie below the spot prices reported Sept. 14–15 when BTC traded near $78,000 and ETH around $2,510.

A call-dominant setup implies demand for upside exposure but does not mechanically set future prices: many positions are hedged, layered in spreads, or written by professional market makers. As expiry approaches, hedging flows from large dealers on dominant venues such as Deribit can amplify moves—delta-hedging induced buying when calls move into the money, and selling when puts become valuable. Traders monitoring the September 25 expiry should watch shifts in put/call ratios, changes in implied volatility, and whether spot holds above the reported $72,000–$75,000 max-pain zone. Coinbase and Deribit’s outsized role in options volume means their hedging and turnover will be significant for market dynamics ahead of settlement, particularly given concurrent macro and policy events that can affect volatility and position sizing.