On May 31, 69,000 Bitcoin options worth $4.7 billion and 920,000 Ether options worth $3.5 billion expire. The expiry of crypto options contracts is historically linked to price volatility in the crypto market.

According to the Deribit data, the put/call ratio for the expired Bitcoin (BTC) options is 0.61. This means more calls (or long contracts) are expiring than puts (or shorts). On the other hand, Ether (ETH)options had a put/call ratio of 0.46.

The put/call ratio (PCR) is a technical indicator that reflects trader market sentiment. A PCR below 0.7 is considered a strong bullish sentiment, while a PCR above 1 is considered a strong bearish sentiment.

The maximum pain point at which most losses will be made by the leverage traders for Bitcoin is $66,000. For ETH, the max pain point is $3,300. BTC is currently trading at $68,210, $2,000 above the pain point, and ETH is trading at $3,738, more than $400 above its pain point.

Millions in open interest (OI) are in long positions with strike prices at $70,000, $75,000, $80,000, and even $100,000. Open interest refers to the total number of outstanding derivative contracts that have not been settled.

A few traders have placed long positions on Bitcoin with a target price of $100,000. With $886 million in open interest (OI) at this strike price, the number of long positions appears significant. The total notional value of all outstanding BTC options contracts amounts to $19 billion.

Related: Bitcoin price reclaims $70K as Coinbase BTC supply hits 9-year low

The spot ETH ETF approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in May was a significant and bullish event for the crypto market. ETH prices rose 20% in May in anticipation of the approval. However, the SEC only approved the 19b-4 filing, thus delaying the actual listing for trading.

Since the ETH ETF approval, the crypto market has shown a bearish sideways movement, with ETH stuck below $4,000 and BTC below the $70,000 price barrier. Currently, the crypto market is experiencing bearish momentum, correcting from the bullish surge of the past two weeks.

Magazine: Godzilla vs. Kong SEC faces fierce battle against cryptos legal firepower

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$8.2B in Bitcoin and Ether options expire, here's how it could impact the markets - Cointelegraph

2024 was projected to be one of the biggest years yet for the crypto industry.

But barely a few weeks following the widely anticipated Bitcoin halving, bitcoins price dropped 11%. Aside from the bitcoin ETF approval, this year has actually been underwhelming for the industry, with little progress despite all of the work during the bear market.

However, its clearly not time to call the final score on 2024 yet. Were not even halfway through the year, and the impact of the halving has typically been seen months after past cycles.

But perhaps there is a more important question to ask. Despite Satoshi outlining a vision for a peer-to-peer version of electronic cash in the bitcoin white paper over 15 years ago, why has crypto and Web3 so far failed to live up to this vision and what will it take to deliver on the industries promises?

Proposing decentralized, electronic cash may have been a bold claim in 2008, but in hindsight, I would argue it was the equivalent of selling the internets main benefit as the ability to send electronic letters.

Payments represent a relatively small amount of the global financial system. With the development of smart contracts, there has been an explosion of what is possible with decentralized ledger technology to provide a more efficient, open and competitive global financial system.

With the DeFi summer of 2020, decentralized finance applications found true product market fit. DEXs like Uniswap created 24/7 markets that did not require market makers. And collateralized lending protocols like Aave opened up the ability for holders to generate yield on their tokens while also using them as leverage for other activities, including traditionally impossible products like flash loans.

While momentum then certainly fell in no small part due to the scalability issues of Ethereum the bear market continued to see fast progress here. Perhaps most noticeable was the evolution of DeFi from mainly a user-to-dapp interaction to a dapp-to-dapp interaction an evolution similar to that of Web2, where most interactions are API driven.

Now, in 2024, terms like real-world assets (RWAs), decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN) and digital identity are starting to gain traction. While they have shiny new names, many will remember these concepts as similar to ideas floated during the ICO era. The difference is that now, combined with the innovation of DeFi, there are clear economic and practical benefits to tokenizing everything.

This evolution is, in my opinion, also the evolution of Satoshis vision of global decentralized money to global decentralized programmable assets. But if that is true, then why have we still not seen the explosive growth that such a revolution would trigger?

The recent bitcoin ETF approval undeniably marks bitcoins entry into the mainstream financial system, as more institutional capital pours into the industry. Institutional investors may now engage with cryptocurrency through a regulated entity, allowing those who are more cautious to participate in a thriving asset class. But while this adds legitimacy to the crypto sphere, it also raises concerns about bitcoins status as a viable and alternative monetary system.

Read more from our opinion section: Ethereum and Bitcoin are holding us back

At the same time, the Bitcoin blockchains limited capacity to execute transactions swiftly and effectively will become increasingly exposed as the network evolves and usage increases. Proof-of-work is Bitcoins most significant inhibitor and demonstrates the need for a new layer-1. The process uses a substantial amount of power and manual energy, reducing the speed at which transactions may be performed. Its energy-intensive nature demands high electricity consumption, sparking concerns about its environmental impact.

Ethereum first showed promise to overcome Bitcoins shortfalls via the use of programmable money executed through smart contracts. But despite its best intentions, Ethereum has failed on two fronts: 1) the network is fundamentally unscalable and 2) it is ill-fitted as a programming language.

Layer-2s were established as a remedy to Ethereums scalability. However, they ultimately serve as a band-aid solution, introducing greater fragmentation and vulnerability. It should be noted that developing DeFi apps requires an incredibly high level of technical knowledge, far above that of the typical developer. Solidity, designed specifically for Ethereums smart contracts, is notoriously difficult to master. These barriers to entry impede higher levels of growth and competition between dapps, which is required to facilitate mainstream adoption.

Even more troubling is that despite the Ethereum communitys highly proficient developers, security remains a persistent issue, with billions of dollars in breaches and vulnerabilities emerging from within the ecosystem. From the DAOs initial attack in 2016 to the billions of dollars lost each year, Ethereum has repeatedly proven that it is not a platform suitable for developers to develop secure DeFi applications that users can confidently engage with.

The expansion of other networks based on Bitcoins concept is proof that its objective of becoming a monetary system is coming to fruition. However, for crypto to truly attain widespread adoption and keep in line with Satoshis original vision, chains must be both scalable and easy to program on.

While Ethereum and its wave of layer-2s attempted to address some of these challenges, they introduced new ones. And while earlier networks like Solana saw comparable advancements in certain areas, they still fell well short of what is required for a global asset layer.

With the surge of next-generation layer-1 networks coming to challenge Bitcoin and Ethereum, both end-users and developers are becoming better equipped with the necessary tools to build and use intuitive, secure, and powerful Web3 applications. This provides a viable way forward.

With all of this in mind, one may argue that the future Satoshi envisioned for Bitcoin will only be delivered in Bitcoins absence.

Adam Simmons is Chief Strategy Officer at RDX Works, a key contributor to the Radix public ledger. He has over 13 years of experience in building & growing businesses in a range of industries including online video, blockchain & digital marketing. With experience in both senior leadership & hands-on roles, he has repeatedly recruited, managed, and trained highly successful teams within marketing, customer success and operations functions. Adam is also a previous member of the UK Paralympic Sprint Kayaking Team and has competed in multiple World and European Championships.

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Forget the Bitcoin halving: Bitcoin's original vision has been surpassed - Blockworks

Bitcoin (BTC) starts a new week pressuring key resistance as the May monthly close looms.

BTC price action is keeping bulls on their toes, as old all-time highs prove hard to flip to resistance. Can $69,000 fall by June?

A quiet start to the week sees Memorial Day in the United States keep institutional activity off the table until May 28.

Later, however, macroeconomic catalysts heat up in the form of U.S. data prints, which, as always, form a key focal point for crypto and risk assets.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin has its own hurdles to contend with consolidation below all-time highs has been ongoing for over two months, and a resolution of the status quo remains elusive.

Plenty of optimistic BTC price predictions are circulating, some including a six-figure target for BTC/USD in 2024, but concerns of a deeper retracement linger in the background.

As the market sits at a critical point, Cointelegraph takes a look at the factors set to potentially move them as May comes to an end.

Bitcoin saw a classic spate of weekend price action, heading above $69,000 but retracing after the weekly close, data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingViewconfirms.

In so doing, it effectively closed its latest gap in CME Group Bitcoin futures markets even with the U.S. closed for the Memorial Day holiday.

Basic weekend price action so far, popular trader Daan Crypto Trades wrote in a response on X (formerly Twitter).

The weekly close, which came in at around $68,500, was nonetheless Bitcoins strongest since the start of April.

Commenting on the latest developments, trading resource Material Indicators stressed the need to turn $69,000 into solid support.

A green Weekly close for BTC is met with another failed attempt to R/S flip $69k and a new Trend Precognition (down) signal on the W chart, part of an X post read, referring to one of Material Indicators proprietary trading tools.

The latest data from monitoring resource CoinGlass meanwhile shows key areas of liquidity built up around spot price leaving traders to guess which will be taken first.

At the time of writing on May 27, $68,100 and $69,800 were key levels of interest, the latter in the middle of a cloud of liquidity across order books.

Bitcoin aims to consolidate in these levels, Michal van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm MNTrading, summarized on the day.

Where Bitcoin heads once it leaves its current range is a major preoccupation for some market observers.

Consensus is forming over a break to the upside, but how high the market will go remains a topic of debate.

As Cointelegraph reported, calls for $95,000 in June and even $150,000 by the end of the year are being reinforced by their respective sources.

Popular commentator BitQuant, the originator of the former prediction, last week suggested that BTC price dips within the range should be ignored.

The only thing I'm confident about is that Bitcoin is going to $95K, part of another X post insisted.

Daan Crypto trades meanwhile acknowledged the historical precedent is on bulls side long periods of consolidation below all-time highs have resulted in bull market breakouts in previous BTC price cycles.

Has now been trading against its previous cycle high for ~11 weeks. In 2017 this took ~4 weeks. In 2013 this took ~13 weeks, he calculated.

Some, however, still have a larger correction as their base case.

Among them is popular trader Credible Crypto, who continues to eye the area around $60,000 as likely coming next.

Into the weekend, Material Indicators added that it was fully prepared for $60,000 to make a comeback.

Currently not much liquidity based sentiment for sub $60k so expecting to range for an extended period of time, it concluded.

For popular trader and analyst, the latest Bitcoin block subsidy halving is not priced in.

In a YouTube video last week, Rekt Capital argued that despite having come and gone last month, the halving remains an extremely relevant BTC price catalyst.

Bitcoin, he says, is still in a post-halving re-accumulation phase and the consolidation it brings has historically lasted for up to 160 days.

The longer we can consolidate here, the better for Bitcoin, the video stated.

Rekt Capital nonetheless said that upside continuation inevitably ensues once such phases are complete.

For this most parabolic phase of the cycle, he continued, a BTC price target of approximately $150,000 is appropriate.

This weekend, meanwhile, he suggested short-term sideways BTC price action may need several weeks to resolve.

With U.S. markets closed until May 28, Bitcoin has little impetus for major outside volatility during Wall Street hours.

The Asia trading session produced no surprises, and attention thus focuses on the end of the week.

Here, U.S. macro data prints return, headlined by the Producer Price Index (PCE) known as the Federal Reserves preferred inflation gauge.

The mood when it comes to risk assets benefitting from loosening Fed policy remains conservative. Interest rate cuts are not expected until September or later, and other inflation data remains mixed.

Despite this, U.S. stocks continue to hit all-time highs.

Short but busy week ahead, trading resource The Kobeissi Letter wrote while acknowledging the stocks trend in its weekly macro diary dates entry on X.

Commenting on tendencies on both stocks and Bitcoin, trading firm Mosaic asset saw mixed conditions ultimately favoring risk-on sentiment.

Daily momentum indicators like the S&P 500s MACD and RSI are extended, indicating the potential for mean reversion lower. While I would not be surprised to see a partial retracement of the recent gains in the stock market, I expect any downside is just a pause in the bull market, it wrote in one edition of its regular newsletter, The Market Mosaic, on May 23.

Mosaic likewise swayed toward an upside breakout for BTC/USD to come.

Risky asset classes are particularly sensitive to easing conditions, which is why Im closely following the action in Bitcoin and crypto mining stocks for additional confirmation that the bull market is intact, it continued, noting Bitcoins two-month consolidation.

When it comes to buying the dip, some Bitcoin investor cohorts are wasting no time below $69,000.

Related: Traders hope for insane pump as altcoins approach key resistance levels

In focus this week are Bitcoin whales, the largest of these, who have been especially active as price has advanced and stayed near all-time highs.

Bitcoin whales have been buying like never before, Vivek Sen, founder of Bitcoin public relations firm Bitgrow Lab, commented alongside data from on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant.

The data shows the balance of whale addresses active within the last 24 hours at nearly half a million BTC easily the largest on record.

Cointelegraph continues to report on whale interest in Bitcoin, with CryptoQuant describing them as being in acceleration mode earlier this month.

Bitcoin demand growth seems to be stabilizing after being in a decelerating trend since March, it found.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

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BTC price preps 'most parabolic phase' 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week - Cointelegraph

Investing.com -- briefly climbed above the $69,000 threshold before quickly pulling back as traders started looking elsewhere for higher returns in fringe tokens known as memecoins.

Two tokens within the ecosystem, and MOG, soared to record highs on Monday, continuing the impressive rallies from last week. These gains also coincided with a nearly 5% rise in ether. The surge followed the U.S. approval of key ether exchange-traded fund filings, prompting traders to consider meme tokens as beta bets.

The rise is part of a broader meme coin rally, with most meme-based cryptocurrencies trading in the green. The sector saw a surge in interest over the last few weeks after legendary trader and investor Roaring Kitty returned to the trading world following a three-year absence.

Moreover, the number of addresses holding meme coins for less than thirty days reached a record high last month, which indicates a massive influx of new traders entering the market.

Traders have been considering PEPE and MOG as leveraged ways to gain exposure to ether. The rally in these tokens began when analysts increased the probability of ether ETFs being approved for trading in the U.S.

In the past 24 hours, frog-themed PEPE and cat-themed MOG gained 11% and 45%, respectively, as the beta bet narrative gained traction. A beta bet allows investors to gain exposure to a main asset by investing in related networks or protocols. Trading volumes for PEPE across spot and futures markets reached over $1.8 billion, well above the usual $400 million to $600 million range.

Futures data revealed a massive increase in open interest for instruments tracking PEPE and MOG in the past 24 hours. PEPE's open interest climbed to $720 million from last weeks $550 million, and MOG's rose to $8.3 million from $5 million. An increase in open interest is typically seen as an indicator of new capital entering the market, potentially leading to more price volatility.

Despite the bullish sentiment, the long-to-short ratio for PEPE is tilted towards bears at 54%, indicating that traders are largely betting against further price increases.

PEPE even entered the top 20 largest tokens by market capitalization, surpassing $6 billion, and provided early investors decent returns from initial investments as low as $460. Since 2023, meme tokenstypically perceived as having no intrinsic value but enjoying sizable followings have risen in prominence as beta bets on their respective ecosystems.

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Meme coins hit records as bitcoin kicks off the week in the red - Investing.com