key insights:
- Call exposure leads puts as Bitcoin and Ethereum both maintain put-to-call ratios below 0.60.
- Max pain remains below spot with Bitcoin at $72,000 and Ethereum at $2,200.
- Policy events precede expiry with U.S. political and monetary decisions arriving before September 25.
Bitcoin options account for most of the $16.6 billion in crypto derivatives approaching Deribit’s September 25 quarterly expiry. The large call-heavy positioning gives traders a bullish tilt, while Bitcoin and Ethereum remain below several major upside strikes.
$16.6B options market heads toward settlement
On September 15, Coinbase Markets disclosed that options on Bitcoin and Ethereum had a notional value of almost $16.6 billion prior to the settlement at the end of the quarter. Bitcoin’s total value of 186,000 contracts added up to $14.73 billion while Ethereum totaled $1.92 billion across approximately 756,100 contracts.
Nearly $16.6B in BTC and ETH options is positioned for the 2026 Q3 expiry.
bitcoin:native :
→ ~$14.73B notional
→ 186.0K contracts in OI
→ Put to call ratio: 0.52
→ $72K max pain
→ The largest call concentrations sit around $70K, with additional sizeable upside OI at $85K… pic.twitter.com/S3shuqjRX2— Coinbase Markets 🛡️ (@CoinbaseMarkets) September 14, 2026
The positioning shows more call exposure than put exposure across both assets. Bitcoin recorded a 0.52 put-to-call ratio, while Ethereum stood at 0.57. Therefore, traders have accumulated substantially more upside contracts than downside contracts before the September expiry.
Deribit will settle the quarterly contracts at 08:00 UTC on Friday, September 25. The exchange schedules quarterly Bitcoin and Ethereum options for the final Friday of March, June, September and December.
Almost 89% of the total notional value is in the form of bitcoin. Coinbase spotted significant Bitcoin call build up in the $70,000 area, with further exposure spread from $85,000 to $100,000.
Bitcoin calls point toward higher strikes
According to the market data referenced in the source, bitcoin was trading close to $78,000 on September 15th trading. The price range sustained Bitcoin above its max-pain price of $72,000 and below a handful of call strikes.
Coinbase Markets calculated Bitcoin’s max pain at $72,000. The level represents the strike where the largest amount of options value would expire worthless under the calculation. However, max pain does not guarantee a settlement price or establish a technical support level.
The current positioning creates several important reference points before expiry. Call exposure remains concentrated around $70,000, with sizeable positions also sitting at $85,000, $90,000 and higher levels through $100,000.
Meanwhile, recent derivatives data showed downside protection concentrated between $68,000 and $75,000. Call positioning, however, favored prices above $80,000. As a result, the market contains meaningful exposure around both downside protection and higher-price scenarios.
Ethereum options target $3,000 strike
Ethereum has a smaller proportion of notional value but a larger proportion of contracts. Coinbase Markets saw approximately 756,100 ETH options valued at $1.92 billion, with a 0.57 put-to-call ratio.
Coinbase’s mass of calls were concentrated in the largest Ethereum call, at the $3,000 level, where it found approximately 43,000 contracts. The concentration was incorrectly reported at $30,000 in some secondary reports, while the original report from Coinbase Markets had put it at $3,000.
Ether’s price closed at around $2,510, according to Investing.com’s notes, which details the data from the Sept. 15 session. The price was sufficient to bring ETH back from its $2,200 max-pain and below the $3,000 strike that had the most calls.
The $3,000 mark has also been seen in the recent technical forecasts. Earlier this week, analysts saw a weekly close above the $2,550 area as a possible step to $3,000.However, that assessment remains separate from options positioning and does not determine the eventual settlement price.
Care needs to be taken in interpreting call-heavy positioning as well. Spreads and hedges are often used by professional traders but also can occur when options are bought or sold as pairs. Thus, a low put-to-call ratio is not enough to indicate that traders believe that the price is going to rise quickly.
Macro risks could shift market positioning
The September 25 date comes after the U.S. has had several significant policy events that could lead to crypto market volatility. The Senate’s vote on the CLARITY Act was set for Sept. 15, and the Federal Reserve was set to make its next monetary policy decision on Sept. 16.
Interest rates and expectations of interest rates were also crucial factors in crypto markets. Another factor as traders weighed demand and macroeconomic conditions was Bitcoin ETF flows. Activity in the options market has been pretty high all year. Deribit recorded $56.13 billion in Bitcoin options turnover during August, while Ethereum options turnover reached $7.14 billion.
Bitcoin was the leading asset in terms of option contracts for the month of August, with 775,731 contracts. Ethereum had over the same time period more than 3.23 million contracts.
The September quarterly expiry also exceeds the previous June event. Bitcoin options accounted for roughly $9.3 billion during June, while Ethereum options added another $1.6 billion.
June also recorded about 153,500 Bitcoin contracts. The current September positioning therefore carries a larger Bitcoin contract count at 186,000.
Conclusion
Bitcoin options now dominate a $16.6 billion quarterly expiry scheduled for September 25. Call exposure exceeds puts across Bitcoin and Ethereum, creating a clear upside bias in current positioning.
Bitcoin’s major call strikes extend toward $85,000, $90,000 and $100,000, while Ethereum’s largest call concentration sits at $3,000. However, max-pain levels remain below current prices for both assets.
The period before settlement will therefore remain closely watched as policy decisions, market flows and derivatives positioning interact. The expiry itself may reveal how traders’ large options positions ultimately translate into market activity.
