Bitcoin (BTC) prices moved steadily lower during Monday’s US trading session, sliding below the 88,000 dollar mark. This movement occurs as the market prepares for the largest options expiration in the history of the Deribit platform, valued at 28.5 billion dollars.
Bitcoin institutional accumulation faces a technical challenge given the proximity of this massive derivatives event. Year-end volatility currently conditions the behavior of professional traders within the sector globally. According to reports by Helene Braun, the price had earlier climbed above 90,000 dollars before this correction.
Friday’s expiry represents more than half of Deribit’s total open interest, which stands at 52.2 billion dollars. Jean-David Pequignot, the exchange’s commercial officer, noted that this event marks the culmination of a year defined by an institutional policy-driven supercycle.
The max pain level is currently situated at 96,000 dollars for the option writers in the market. However, selling pressure could build due to the concentration of put positions at the 85,000 dollar strike price. In addition, the rising cost of protective puts suggests an increase in caution among large investors.
On the other hand, some stocks linked to blockchain tecnology managed to hold notable gains despite the main asset’s decline. Hut 8 (HUT) led the sector with a 16% increase after securing a fifteen-year contract for AI data centers.
Diversification into high-performance computing is driving the value of mining companies in today’s market. Therefore, firms like Coinbase and Robinhood also operate in the green, though away from their session highs. The correlation between infrastructure and digital assets remains a key driver for Wall Street investors.
Will the market be able to absorb the options expiry liquidity without a major correction?
Likewise, Pequignot observed that traders are rolling their defensive positions forward into January instead of closing them out. There is a notable shift from December put options toward protection spreads for the start of 2026.
Institutional strategy seeks to cover immediate risks given the regulatory uncertainty of the upcoming fiscal cycle. Therefore, a sense of caution dominates the trading desks for derivatives during this Christmas week of 2025. Thinning liquidity often exacerbates sharp price movements in global financial markets during holiday periods.
Furthermore, the skew between call and put pricing indicates that optimism has moderated recently among market participants. Although bets toward 100,000 and 125,000 dollars remain in play, the short-term focus is clearly defensive.
Bitcoin institutional accumulation has become more selective and strategic in the face of market maturity. In this way, the 85,000 dollar support level acts as the critical point that bulls must firmly defend. Trading volume reflects a natural fatigue after the highs reached during the last quarter of the year.
What impact will the “max pain” level have on the December closing price?
However, Strategy (MSTR) recorded a slight loss at the end of the day after having initially risen 3%. This choppy behavior highlights the tension between asset accumulation and the need for liquidity for year-end accounting.
Institutional investors are actively rebalancing their portfolios before the year 2025 definitively comes to a close. Therefore, Bitcoin institutional accumulation could reactivate once the massive expiry on Friday is settled. The outlook for the first quarter of 2026 will depend on stability following this expiration.
Finally, the crypto market enters a phase of necessary technical consolidation to purge excessive leverage from the system. The resolution of the Deribit expiry is expected to clear the path toward a clearer trend in the coming weeks.
The maturity of the digital financial ecosystem allows for much more professional risk management than in past cycles. Thus, analysts recommend closely monitoring open interest levels in future contracts. The close of the 2025 “supercycle” will mark the beginning of a new era of global corporate adoption.
