Bitcoin $20,000 Put Option Becomes Third Most Popular Strike Price Before CEX Quarterly Expiration

Gate News reports that on March 19, just before the expiration of Bitcoin quarterly options on a certain CEX, the $20,000 put options became the third most popular strike price, with a notional value of approximately $596 million, reflecting traders’ positioning for extreme market scenarios amid geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

In terms of open interest distribution, the three main strike prices are: $125,000 call options ($740 million), $75,000 call options ($687 million), and $20,000 put options ($596 million), showing a broad expectation for both upward and downward movements. The total notional value of Bitcoin options expiring on this platform is $13.5 billion, with a total open interest of 195,719 BTC—120,236 BTC in call options and 75,482 BTC in put options.

Currently, with BTC trading below $70,000, the $20,000 strike price is a deep out-of-the-money option, only profitable if the market crashes more than 70% from current levels. A large volume of such activity likely indicates traders selling these deep out-of-the-money puts to collect premiums, reflecting a low-probability expectation of a drop to $20,000 rather than a hedge against a crash—more of a yield enhancement or volatility strategy rather than a direct bearish bet.

Overall market sentiment remains extremely fearful, yet the put-to-call ratio in the options market is 0.63, meaning there are more call options than puts, indicating a slight bullish bias. The key support level appears around $75,000, which could act as a magnet for Bitcoin price approaching expiration.