Bitcoin’s $95K-$105K Range Critical as $10 Billion in Options Expire Friday on Deribit

Bitcoin is approaching a crucial moment with over $10 billion worth of options contracts set to expire this Friday at 08:00 UTC on the Deribit exchange. This expiration highlights the $95,000 to $105,000 price band as a key zone for potential volatility and market direction.

Currently, 93,131 monthly bitcoin options contracts—totaling more than $10 billion—are slated for settlement. Of these, 53% are call options, reflecting bullish market bets, while the remainder are puts, often used to hedge against price declines. Each contract on Deribit corresponds to one bitcoin.

Open interest is heavily concentrated around the $95,000, $100,000, and $105,000 strike levels, creating significant “delta” exposure. This clustering indicates that traders holding these options have substantial price risk linked to Bitcoin’s movement.

As expiration nears, the options’ “gamma” — a measure of how sensitive options are to price changes — is expected to peak. This can lead to increased price swings as investors and market makers adjust their hedging strategies, potentially amplifying volatility.

Volmex, a decentralized crypto trading platform, highlighted on X:

“Deribit’s May 30 BTC expiry shows the largest delta concentration, with $2.8 billion in delta exposure focused on the $95K, $100K, and $105K strikes, signaling possible strong gamma-driven flows into month-end.”

They cautioned:

“Expect volatility as any price movement could prompt aggressive dealer hedging in this fragile gamma environment.”

Bitcoin was trading near $107,700 at press time, after touching record highs above $111,000 last week, per CoinDesk data.

Despite these dynamics, Deribit’s DVOL index—which tracks 30-day implied volatility based on options prices—has been trending downward, signaling a generally calm market ahead of expiry. Volmex’s one-day implied volatility index ticked slightly higher to 45.4%, implying an expected 2.37% price move over the next 24 hours.