bitcoin and other crypto assets fell steadily again during Monday’s US session, with BTC falling below $88,000 after previously rising above $90,000 and ETH retreating below $3,000.
Some cryptocurrency-related stocks are still holding gains, led by Hut 8 (HUT), which continues to rise following its deal last week for a 15-year AI data center lease with Fluidstack. Shares rose 16% on Monday, helped by a price target increase from Benchmark’s Mark Palmer.
Other names in green include Coinbase (COIN) and Robinhood (HOOD), although both are well off session highs as cryptocurrency prices have pulled back. Strategy (MSTR) has gone from a 3% gain to a modest loss at the end of the day.
Options Expiration
The recent very choppy price action between $85,000 and $90,000 comes ahead of Friday’s record $28.5 billion in BTC and ETH options expiries on crypto derivatives exchange Deribit. That amount represents more than half of Deribit’s $52.2 billion in open interest, said Jean-David Pequignot, the exchange’s chief commercial officer.
“This year-end expiration marks the culmination of a year defined by institutional maturity and a shift from speculative cycles to a policy-driven supercycle,” Pequignot said.
At the center of the action, Pequignot continued, is bitcoin’s $96,000 “peak pain” level, where option writers will benefit the most. A notable open interest of $1.2 billion is built up on the exercise of $85,000 in puts, which could push down spot prices if selling pressure increases. While medium-term put spreads targeting between $100,000 and $125,000 remain in play, short-term protective puts have become more expensive, he said.
The bias between bid and ask prices has decreased from recent highs, but still indicates caution, Pequignot continued.
Traders appear to be advancing defensive positions rather than closing them, he said. According to Péquignot, there has been a shift from put spreads between $85,000 and $70,000 in December to put spreads between $80,000 and $75,000 in January. This suggests that while the immediate year-end risk is being hedged, traders remain cautious about what lies ahead.
