Oct 29, 2026, 8:04 a.m. EDT
3 min read
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Traders of Bitcoin BTC$77,887.41 options are showing anxiety.
The evidence appears directly in the market pricing, which indicates they are shelling out a distinct premium for put options—contracts that guard against a potential decline in the valuation of the premier cryptocurrency, which tumbled to a low of $79,300 earlier in the week.
Jean-David Pequignot, chief commercial officer at Deribit, informed CoinDesk that the breach beneath the $80,000 threshold has driven the front-end 25-delta skew for BTC firmly toward puts at greater than 10 volatility points over calls.
Put contracts are priced 10 volatility units higher than call options, which allow speculators to profit if spot values climb. Derivatives participants typically discuss option valuations in terms of volatility instead of direct monetary costs, and these indicators imply that current demand focuses on insurance against downward movement rather than speculation on upward gains.
Pequignot further noted that near-term bitcoin options exhibit a clear smile pattern in implied volatility, with downside protection experiencing heavy interest as traders scramble to secure safety.
Deribit functions as the largest digital asset options exchange worldwide based on bitcoin and ether trading metrics alongside open interest. On this venue, a single contract equates to one BTC or ETH.
All of this culminates on Friday, when bitcoin options valued at $10.86 billion will expire on the network at 08:00 UTC. Ether options totaling $783 million will also settle simultaneously.
Regarding bitcoin, the majority of active positions reside in call options carrying strike thresholds between $90,000 and $100,000, pointing to market participants who positioned themselves for a sharp rally that failed to happen. These particular wagers now sit out of the money, representing realized losses.
The DVOL index, representing Deribit’s 30-day implied volatility measure for BTC, likewise demonstrates that traders expect short-term turbulence following recent price action around the $80,000 mark that struggled to define a clear trend. The metric currently stands at 36, tracking approximately five points above the 30-day realized volatility reading of 31.
Pequignot noted that this positive variance risk premium shows options are pricing in substantial price swings relative to recent observed market chop. Stay alert!
Read more: For analysis of today’s activity in altcoins and derivatives, see Crypto Markets Today . For a comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s Crypto Week Ahead.
What’s trending
- NYSE owner takes steps to bring Hyperliquid perpetual futures to U.S. (CoinDesk): Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, is partnering with Trade[XYZ], the leading market builder on the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid, to introduce perpetual futures to the United States.
- AI found a way to crash bitcoin nodes on Windows and Macs. It’s now public (CoinDesk): The vulnerability, initially highlighted on October 23, allowed any system linked to a bitcoin node operating on Windows, macOS, or BSD to overwhelm that node with data until memory exhaustion triggered a crash.
- Bitcoin drops to $80,000 on Fed dissent, Samsung, Alphabet earnings; AI tokens slump (CoinDesk): Bitcoin retreated by 1.4% toward $80,100 on Thursday. South Korea’s Kospi index spearheaded the sell-off, dropping 1.2% as equities in Samsung Electronics declined by 4%. Nasdaq-100 index futures dropped 1.1% following an earnings miss from Alphabet.
- European bonds and stocks rally; ECB meeting in focus as Lagarde confirms early exit (Reuters): European government bond markets and equities experienced a rally on Thursday while investors awaited the impending European Central Bank policy announcement later in the day.
Today’s signal
The provided chart illustrates daily price fluctuations for Solana’s SOL asset using candlestick visual representations dating back to January.
The cryptocurrency has retraced to hover right around the $100 psychological threshold, testing a critical former resistance level that has flipped into support, marked by the horizontal line at $98. This specific level identifies a major breakout zone originating in August, a point where valuations previously indicated the start of a new upward trend.
Defending this foundational psychological floor remains essential for sustaining a bullish market outlook. Should valuations slip underneath, it would signify a notable erosion of buying momentum, potentially clearing the path for deeper price declines.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/daybook-us/2026/10/29/as-usd10-billion-in-bitcoin-options-near-expiry-the-tell-is-in-the-pricing.
