Analysis: Approximately $23 billion worth of Bitcoin options will expire next Friday, potentially exacerbating already high volatility.

PANews reported on December 19th, citing Bloomberg, that the options market shows Bitcoin is under significant pressure as the final weeks of 2025 approach, with approximately $23 billion worth of contracts expiring next Friday, potentially exacerbating already high volatility. This amount represents more than half of all open interest on the Deribit platform. Nick Forster, founder of Derive.xyz, stated, “Bitcoin positioning remains clearly bearish. 30-day volatility has rebounded to around 45%, while skewness hovers around -5%. Longer-term skewness is also anchored around -5%, indicating that traders are pricing in continued downside risk for the first and second quarters due to persistent selling pressure from previously inactive wallets weighing on spot prices.”

Positioning around the December 26th contract expiry date reflects this divergence. Call options are concentrated at strike prices of $100,000 and $120,000, suggesting continued market optimism about a year-end rebound. However, put options have dominated recently, accumulating significant put exposure at a strike price of $85,000. Furthermore, traders anticipate a market repositioning around two catalysts: hedging ahead of the January 15th MSCI decision, which may remove companies with more than 50% of their assets in crypto assets from its index; and a resurgence of call-overwriting flows.