Roughly 18.1 billion USD in Bitcoin and Ethereum options are set to expire and settle on Friday, September 25 — and the positioning is heavily tilted toward calls, with Bitcoin’s call open interest clustered near the 90,000 and 100,000 USD strikes, according to Coinbase Markets.
By Sarah Park | September 23, 2026
The Hook: A Quarterly Settlement With the Market Near Eight-Month Highs
Quarterly options expiries are the derivatives market’s equivalent of a scheduled storm — a fixed date when a huge pile of contracts settles at once, forcing traders to close, roll or adjust hedges. Friday’s event is the September leg of Deribit’s quarterly cycle, settling at 08:00 UTC on September 25. What makes this one notable is where prices stand: Bitcoin surged from around 76,000 USD on September 17 to above 86,000 USD this week, touching an eight-month high above 87,000 USD on September 21. At the time of writing, Bitcoin trades near 85,636 USD and Ethereum near 2,727 USD, per the site’s price snapshot.
The Numbers: What the Books Look Like
Coinbase Markets laid out the positioning in its quarterly-expiry update:
- Bitcoin put/call ratio: 0.66 on open interest, and just 0.37 on 24-hour volume — recent trading is even more call-heavy than the standing positions.
- Ether put/call ratio: 0.61 on open interest, with 24-hour volume at 0.55.
- Bitcoin call open interest clusters near 90,000 and 100,000 USD strikes — roughly 4 percent and 16 percent above spot, respectively.
- Ether call interest concentrates between 3,000 and 4,000 USD, with 3,000 USD about 8.7 percent above recent trading levels.
A Deribit-sourced snapshot at 03:53 UTC on September 23 showed 9.61 billion USD in BTC call open interest against 6.52 billion USD in puts for the September 25 date, plus roughly 1.34 billion USD in ETH calls against 820.1 million USD in puts — a combined figure near 18.29 billion USD, with small differences from Coinbase’s 18.1 billion reading explained by moving prices between snapshots. Deribit reports handling roughly 85 percent of BTC and ETH options activity, making its expiries the market’s center of gravity.
The Core Conflict: Call-Heavy Books Don’t Guarantee a Rally
Here is the caveat every reader should hold onto: open interest counts outstanding contracts, not who is bullish. Many of those calls belong to market makers, spread traders and hedgers — a dealer who sold the 90,000 USD calls is actually short that upside. So call concentration near 90,000 and 100,000 USD does not mean the market expects Bitcoin to get there by Friday. What it does mean is friction: as spot prices move closer to big strikes, option deltas change and market makers must adjust hedges, which can amplify moves in either direction around settlement.
The positioning has also shifted since Coinbase’s earlier look. On September 15, the firm put combined expiry open interest at about 16.6 billion USD — Bitcoin at 14.73 billion USD with a put/call ratio of 0.52, and Ether at 1.92 billion USD with 0.57. By September 23, the notional had grown to roughly 18.1 billion USD while the put/call ratios rose to 0.66 and 0.61. Two things happened at once: prices rallied sharply, inflating the dollar value of outstanding contracts, and puts grew relative to calls — traders adding downside protection as the market climbed. PerpFinder’s methodology notes these notional figures value contracts at forward prices; they do not measure premiums paid or cash that changes hands at settlement.
Market Implications: Ethereum’s Own Story
Ether’s book is smaller in dollar terms but tells a similar bullish-lean story. ETH traded near 2,416 USD on September 16 before pushing through 2,600 USD and printing an intraday high above 2,805 USD on September 21. Reuters reported ETH broke above technical resistance near 2,661.52 USD, with chart-based analysis flagging 3,050 USD as a potential level if momentum continued — a projection, not a forecast. Deribit’s August statistics showed 56.13 billion USD in Bitcoin options turnover and 7.14 billion USD in Ether options turnover for the month, underlining how much more of this market is Bitcoin-denominated.
The Verdict: Watch the Strikes, Not the Headlines
For regular investors, Friday matters for one reason: volatility around big strikes. If Bitcoin drifts toward 90,000 USD or Ether toward 3,000 USD into the settlement window, hedging flows can accelerate the move — or stall it, if positions get closed and rolled to later dates. Earlier this week Coinbase identified max pain near 72,000 USD for Bitcoin and 2,200 USD for Ether in its September 15 snapshot — levels the market has already blown past, which itself signals how much the rally caught positioned traders off guard. The final notional, ratios and strike concentrations can keep changing until traders close, roll or add positions before 08:00 UTC Friday.
The cryptocurrency market remains highly volatile. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
eth side getting ignored as usual. btc 100k calls get the headlines but the eth call skew at 0.55 volume ratio is the more stretched positioning
18.1 billion expiring friday with calls stacked at 100k while spot sits near 86k. max pain is gonna be brutal
18.1b notional but half those 100k calls are decaying to dust by friday close. gamma kicks in above 90 though, thats when dealer hedging stops being boring
exactly, above 90k dealer hedging flips from absorbing to chasing. the gap between the 90 and 100k oi is where the volatility lives friday
above 90 the dealers chasing delta is what turns 4 percent into 10 real fast. friday 8am utc is gonna be cinema
the 90k line is only 4 percent above spot, thats not fantasy land. one hot CPI print and those calls print
One hot CPI print cuts both ways though. I got burned trading expiry week on hope in March, never again
^ pin risk goes both ways, quarterly expiries chop you up then trend resumes
calls at 100k with spot under 86k are lottery tickets plain and simple. the 90k cluster is the one that actually moves dealer hedging
call oi at 90k and 100k with btc at 85.6k… someone is about to learn about max pain friday
max pain is a magnet only into settlement. after the 8am utc expiry the pin thesis expires with the contracts
max pain is closer to 88-90k actually. could pin right into the 8am utc settle
88k max pain with spot at 85.6k is just as close as 100k. a pin between 86 and 90 into the 8am utc settle is my base case
pin thesis holds until one macro headline breaks it, then everyone long gamma eats. thats every expiry tho
eth put/call at 0.61 and volume even more call heavy at 0.55. still gets called the boring asset somehow
0.37 put/call on 24h volume is wild. either everyone is right and we rip, or this expiry is the top signal
btc up 13% in a week straight into a quarterly settle, calls stacked at 90k and 100k. dealer hedging alone can drag spot toward the strikes
18.1b quarterly and everyone argues max pain while forgetting the 8am utc settle on friday. the gaps around that window are brutal