Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP Traders Brace for Options Expiry, Will Price Drop More?

Key Insights:

• Bitcoin price could pullback below $118K as over $5 billion in BTC options to expire on Deribit.
• Ethereum price risks falling to $4,000 due to options expiry, CME gap, and analysts’ prediction.
• XRP price may fall to $3 as whales continues profit booking.

The crypto market cap increase remained flat over the last 24 hours, with traders switching from extreme buying pressure to muted activity.

This happened amid Bitcoin price hitting a new all-time high above $124K and sentiment on Ethereum price staying massively bullish amid $5,000 predictions.

However, crypto traders expect significant volatility as more than $6.2 billion in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP options expire on Friday.

Bitcoin Price Pullbacks as Over $5 Billion in BTC Options to Expire

According to crypto derivatives exchange Deribit, more than 41K BTC options with a notional value of $5.06 billion expire on August 15. At the time of writing, the put-call ratio was 0.97, signaling an increase in bearish sentiment among derivatives traders despite BTC price hitting a new ATH.

Moreover, the max pain price is $118,000, below the current market price of $120,650. The selling pressure has somewhat driven Bitcoin price towards the max pain price, with market makers and options sellers expected to bring it down further.

In the last 24 hours, the put volume was recorded to be lower than the call volume. The put-call ratio was 0.53, indicating traders bet more call options than puts.

Glassnode data indicates the percent of BTC supply in profit increased to 99% as Bitcoin price hit a new ATH. The metric remained as high as 95% before July’s correction, but never fell below the cumulative mean +1 standard deviation band around 92%.

This suggested that investors continued to buy the dip, tracking unrealized gains, turning the crypto market sentiment to improve through heightened volatility.

Meanwhile, Lookonchain reported that whales and institutions started booking profits. A wallet (0xcaC1) linked to Galaxy Digital purchased BTC, ETH, HYPE, PUMP, and FARTCOIN spot positions worth $125 million.

Also, the wallet shorted BTC, ETH, DOGE, PUMP, FARTCOIN, and Sonic for hedging. This signals mixed sentiment and the odds of actively managing the buy-sell decision as the market unfolds.

Ethereum Price Risks Falling to $4,000

The crypto market awaits Ethereum price to hit a new ATH and surpass $5,000 psychological level to boost altcoin season potential. However, options expiry, CME gap, and analyst Ali Martinez’s prediction indicated ETH price could fall below $4,000.

275K ETH options with a notional value of almost $1,26 billion are set to expire on Deribit. The put-call ratio was 1.03 at the time of writing, indicating a bearish sentiment developed among traders as put volume dominated call volume.

The max pain point was $4,000, indicating high odds of a pullback as the market price is $4,529 at the time of writing.

Meanwhile, whales continued to sell ETH holdings or open short positions as Ethereum approached near ATH. Typically, these levels act as major resistance due to a massive sell wall placed by sellers.

Whale Alert reported market maker Cumberland dumped 15,129 ETH worth $71.50 million to Coinbase International.

XRP Price Under Profit Booking by Whales

2,514 XRP options with a notional value of more than $7.81 million are set to expire on Friday. The put-call ratio was 0.55, suggesting bullish sentiment among traders.

The max pain point was $3.20, indicating traders still have room to drop down price further. At the time of writing, XRP price started witnessing massive selling pressure amid selloffs by whales and institutions.

Analysts expect the price to remain bullish as long as it holds above $3.12 and $2.90 support levels. Traders and whales are unfazed by the potential XRP ETF approval and the Ripple vs SEC lawsuit end.

As The Coin Republic reported, whale flow for XRP turned into negative territory, indicating outflows from large wallets. XRP price action could remain structurally weak as long as the whale flows turn positive.

Whale Alert reported over $110 million in XRP moved to crypto exchange Coinbase in the last few hours as whales continued to liquidate holdings.