Bitcoin Options Expiring on Oct. 30 Record $10.83 Billion in Open Interest
Key Facts
Open interest in Bitcoin options expiring on Oct. 30 stood at $10.83 billion, according to CoinClass data on Oct. 29, while pricing indicators showed a mixed picture across short- and long-term maturities. CoinDesk reported on Oct. 28 that the one-week put skew had fallen to less than 1%, from close to 10% a week earlier. That points to easing short-term demand for downside protection, contrary to the previous edition’s account that traders were paying an increasing premium to hedge. But the decline does not erase the defensive tilt elsewhere along the curve: one-, three- and six-month maturities remained clearly skewed toward puts. The moves come ahead of the Oct. 30 trading and settlement day for monthly contracts, making the divergence across maturities a key focus in reading market positioning.
Open interest in Oct. 30 contracts was split between $7.10 billion in call options and $3.73 billion in put options, according to CoinClass. Calls therefore made up the larger share of total open interest, despite the continued put bias in the one-, three- and six-month maturities cited by CoinDesk. Comparing the distribution of positions with the skew indicator shows that the market picture depends on the measure and maturity: open interest aggregates outstanding contracts, while skew describes the direction of pricing between calls and puts. Open interest alone does not establish that the market is betting on a particular price direction. Among active contracts, the $65,000 put expiring on Oct. 30 was the most traded over the 24 hours through CoinDesk’s Oct. 28 report. The contract puts a specific strike level in traders’ focus as expiry approaches, but it is not a confirmed forecast of the price path.
Bitcoin moved unevenly in the days before the contracts expired. CoinDesk said it fell below $80,000 on Tuesday, Oct. 27, before rising to $81,400 on Wednesday, Oct. 28. EL7’s daily closing data show the price closed at $80,150.56 on Oct. 26, then at $80,909.77 on Oct. 27 and $81,343.5 on Oct. 28. On Oct. 29, it closed at $80,178.47, down from the previous day’s close after rising over the prior two trading days. These moves leave the options market facing changing prices near settlement, without by themselves establishing that the contracts or positions caused the price movement.
The recovery reported by CoinDesk coincided with inflows into U.S. spot Bitcoin funds. Net inflows totaled $176 million on Tuesday, Oct. 27, marking the second consecutive day of inflows, according to CoinDesk, citing Farside Investors data. The flows provide additional context for price action in the days before settlement, alongside the divergence between short-term and longer-dated options indicators. In a broader context of pricing volatility, CME said the implied volatility of the 25-delta put option reached 95% on Feb. 5, 2026, compared with 75% for the call option, with both readings the highest since 2022. It also said the 25-delta risk reversal measure fell to -19.34 points on that date, its lowest level since 2022, reflecting a strong preference for puts to hedge against further downside. Those readings relate to February and do not by themselves describe volatility or skew levels recorded in late October.
According to CME’s calendar, Oct. 30 was the last trading day for October 2026 Bitcoin futures options and was also the settlement day. The date follows CoinClass’s report of $10.83 billion in open interest for contracts expiring that day, split between calls and puts. Ahead of settlement, the picture combines an easing in one-week put skew with a continued put bias in longer maturities, while the price moved among varied closes during the week. The $65,000 put remains tied to its strike price and expiry, while open-interest figures reflect the size of outstanding positions, not the settlement outcome. Traders are watching for trading and settlement to conclude on Oct. 30, while monitoring the effect on outstanding options positions.