Crypto News: Market Faces $5.6B Options Expiry Post Hawkish Jerome Powell Jitters

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP traders brace for $5.6 billion in crypto options expiry. The expiry follows the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speech that gave no guidance for investors, keeping the crypto market volatile and uncertain.

Crypto prices dipped as the US dollar and the 10-year Treasury yield rose amid economic growth concerns due to the prolonged U.S. government shutdown. Will the market cap slip under $4 trillion again amid massive crypto liquidations?

Crypto News: $4.6 Billion Bitcoin Options Expiry

More than 38K BTC options with a notional value of $4.6 billion to expire on the largest derivatives crypto exchange Deribit on October 10. The put-call ratio was 1.1.

This indicated that traders were leaning bearish, placing more put options bets as compared to calls after the latest crypto market crash.

Moreover, the max pain price was at $118,000, significantly lower than the current market price. This implied only a slight chance of a pullback in BTC price towards the max pain, with high calls at $120,000 and $121,000 strike prices.

In addition, the 24-hour call volume was higher than the 24-hour put volume. Also, the put-call ratio of 0.87 indicated that traders were cautiously buying calls options amid neutral sentiment.

Bitcoin Options Open Interest | Source: Deribit

As per Greekslive, major participants were focusing on out-of-the-money call options and strike prices close to their recent historical highs.

Options open interest below $120,000 are relatively scarce, and the overall market maker gamma level is still low, signaling limited impact from minor price fluctuations.

Bitcoin price was trading 2% lower at around $120,800 at the time of writing. The 24-hour low and high were $120,798 and $124,167, respectively.

Ethereum Options with $0.93 Billion in Notional Value to Expire

In Ethereum crypto news, 215K ETH options with a notional value of almost $0.93 billion are set to expire. The put-call ratio was slightly bearish at 0.92.

Also, the max pain point was $4,400, above the current market price. Moreover, the put open interests are higher at the strike price, indicating bias towards a lower price to minimize losses.

ETH Options Open Interest | Source: Deribit

According to Greekslive, ETH’s primary IV terms are all below 60%, with short-to-medium-term IV dipping under 50%, signaling low volatility levels.

Analyst Michael van de Poppe predicted Ethereum price could drop under $4,300 if Bitcoin gains upside momentum. However, the bearish sentiment could fade quickly with the leverage reset.

ETH price fell more than 3% in the past 24 hours, with the price trading at $4,317. The 24-hour low and high were $4,294 and $4,556, respectively.

Crypto News: XRP Price Drops Ahead of Options Expiry

Ripple’s native crypto asset XRP faces a massive drop amid selloffs by whales. Notably, XRP price remains mostly range-bound below $3 as analyst suggested a break below $2.80 would trigger further correction.

Meanwhile, $9 million XRP options to expire on Friday. The put-call ratio was 0.67, with options data indicating a potential drop to $2.78.

The max pain point was $2.95, below the current market price of $2.80. The price continues to consolidate for longer despite the XRP ETF approval anticipation.

In addition, the government shutdown coinciding with Jerome Powell’s speech offered no cues about Fed rate cuts kept crypto market lower.

XRP Linear Options Open Interest | Source: Deribit

Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2025/10/09/crypto-news-market-faces-5-6b-options-expiry-post-hawkish-jerome-powell-jitters/