Bitcoin Options Market Faces $8.6B Out-of-the-Money Overhang After June Slide

Bitcoin’s June pullback has pushed most of the month’s major bitcoin options expiry out of the money. More than $10.6 billion in notional bitcoin options open interest is set to expire on June 26, and roughly $8.6 billion of that total, or about 80%, is currently out of the money, according to Deribit data cited by CoinDesk.

The setup matters because quarterly options expiries can concentrate trading activity in the final days before settlement. CoinDesk noted that traders and market makers often rebalance around these events, and a lopsided options book can increase the chance of sharper price moves as participants adjust exposure.

Only about $2 billion of the June 26 open interest is currently in the money. In options markets, calls profit from upside moves, while puts profit from downside moves; contracts that remain out of the money at expiry would expire worthless.

Another closely watched marker is the max pain level, which CoinDesk reported at $74,000 for the June 26 expiry, around 14% above bitcoin’s spot price near $65,000 at the time of the report. The max pain concept refers to the price level where the largest number of options would expire worthless, though its reliability in crypto markets remains debated.

Positioning is concentrated around two strikes. The $60,000 put has about $450 million in open interest and is viewed as a key downside level, while the $80,000 call has about $406 million in exposure and remains a major upside hurdle. The put-to-call ratio stood at 0.87, with 87,156 call contracts and 76,241 put contracts across the June 26 expiry.