{"id":71329,"date":"2026-04-18T17:56:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T17:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/bitcoin-cme-options-open-interest-stays-put-heavy-as-price-stalls-around-76000\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T17:56:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T17:56:22","slug":"bitcoin-cme-options-open-interest-stays-put-heavy-as-price-stalls-around-76000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/bitcoin-cme-options-open-interest-stays-put-heavy-as-price-stalls-around-76000\/","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin CME Options Open Interest Stays Put-Heavy as Price Stalls Around $76,000"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>(Originally posted on : Bitcoin News )<\/b><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>Key Takeaways:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> <span>Bitcoin<\/span> futures open interest fell 4.20% in 24 hours to $58.44B, led by a 35.92% OI collapse at BingX.<\/li>\n<li>CME posted a rare 2.61% OI gain while put options dominated its options book, signaling institutional hedging demand.<\/li>\n<li>Max pain for the April 24 expiry sits near $72K on Deribit and OKX, roughly $4K below <span>Bitcoin<\/span>\u2019s current spot price.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2> <span>Bitcoin<\/span> Futures and Options Markets Signal Defensive Positioning as April 2026 Expiries Loom<\/h2>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coinglass.com\/open-interest\/BTC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">stats<\/a> logged by coinglass.com, total futures open interest across all tracked exchanges stood at 768,160 <span>BTC<\/span> as of Saturday morning. That number has been grinding lower since <span>bitcoin<\/span> crested above $125,000 in late 2025, and the current reading reflects a market that has shed considerable leveraged exposure on the way down.<\/p>\n<p>CME ranked first in open interest by USD value, holding $10.01 billion across 131,670 <span>BTC<\/span> in outstanding futures contracts. Binance edged CME in raw <span>BTC<\/span> terms at 134,200 <span>BTC<\/span> ($10.21B), but the two exchanges diverged sharply on 24-hour direction. CME posted a gain of 2.61%, the lone major venue in positive territory Saturday, while <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/binance-chat-launches-as-part-of-broader-super-app-push-into-everyday-finance\/\">Binance<\/a> shed 2.88%. BingX logged the steepest single-day drop at negative 35.92%, a move that points to forced liquidations or a large institutional exit rather than gradual de-risking.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_807141\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-807141\" style=\"width:2560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-807141\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"> <span>Bitcoin<\/span> futures open interest on April 18, 2026, via coinglass.com.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>MEXC and Gate.io round out a crowded mid-tier field. MEXC held 83,660 <span>BTC<\/span> ($6.36B) at a 10.88% market-rate share, while Gate.io carried 62,280 <span>BTC<\/span> ($4.74B) but posted the second-worst 24-hour decline at negative 10.49%. The aggregate OI-to- <span>volume<\/span> ratio across all exchanges came in at 0.8866, a figure that suggests <span>liquidity<\/span> remains functional even as open interest (OI) contracts.<\/p>\n<p>On the CME options side, the put-call dynamic deserves attention. <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptoquant.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cryptoquant<\/a> data shows that since <span>bitcoin<\/span>\u2019s November 2025 high, put open interest in USD terms has consistently exceeded calls, a posture that reflects institutional demand for downside protection. The stacked-by-position data this weekend shows puts towering over calls across nearly every expiry cycle from late 2025 through April 2026. When <a href=\"https:\/\/markets.bitcoin.com\/crypto\/bitcoin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">bitcoin<\/a> was trading above $100,000, the two sides were more balanced. That balance is gone.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/regulated-avax-and-sui-futures-coming-to-cme-group-this-may\/\">CME<\/a> options stacked-by-expiration stats reinforce the same story. Total open interest peaked around 70,000 contracts in late November and December 2025, then collapsed as the price dropped. Today\u2019s reading sits closer to 25,000 contracts, with the bulk expiring within one to two months. Near-term expiries dominate; the \u201cexpiry in 1m-2m\u201d bucket makes up most of the current stack, meaning a large portion of existing options positions will clear by mid-June.<\/p>\n<p>Deribit\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coinglass.com\/options\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">options market<\/a> tells a slightly different story. As of Saturday, calls held a 56.80% share of total options open interest at 271,909 <span>BTC<\/span>, compared with puts at 206,770 <span>BTC<\/span> (43.20%). The 24-hour <span>volume<\/span> split was nearly identical, calls at 57.84% versus puts at 42.16%. The most widely held contract on Deribit is a bet that <span>bitcoin<\/span> will trade above $80,000 by May 29, with 6,604 <span>BTC<\/span> in open interest.<\/p>\n<p>Close behind it is a December 2026 contract targeting $120,000, 6,587 <span>BTC<\/span> worth of optimism that <span>bitcoin<\/span> still has a big run left before year\u2019s end. The most actively traded contract over the past 24 hours is the April 24 put at the $70,000 strike, with 1,589 <span>BTC<\/span> changing hands. In plain terms, traders are paying for insurance against <a href=\"https:\/\/markets.bitcoin.com\/crypto\/bitcoin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">bitcoin<\/a> falling another $6,000 before next Friday.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_807142\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-807142\" style=\"width:2560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-807142 size-full\" title=\"Bitcoin CME Options Open Interest Stays Put-Heavy as Price Stalls Around $76,000\" src=\"https:\/\/static.news.bitcoin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/apriloptions_nwmk-scaled.png\" alt=\"Bitcoin CME Options Open Interest Stays Put-Heavy as Price Stalls Around $76,000\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1013\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.news.bitcoin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/apriloptions_nwmk-300x119.png 300w, https:\/\/static.news.bitcoin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/apriloptions_nwmk-1024x405.png 1024w, https:\/\/static.news.bitcoin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/apriloptions_nwmk-768x304.png 768w, https:\/\/static.news.bitcoin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/apriloptions_nwmk-1536x608.png 1536w, https:\/\/static.news.bitcoin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/apriloptions_nwmk-2048x810.png 2048w, https:\/\/static.news.bitcoin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/apriloptions_nwmk-scaled.png 2560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-807142\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"> <span>Bitcoin<\/span> options open interest on April 18, 2026, via coinglass.com.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.coinglass.com\/pro\/options\/max-pain\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Max pain data<\/a> across three major platforms paints a consistent short-term picture. On Deribit, the April 24 expiry carries the heaviest notional value, and max pain for that contract sits around $71,500-$72,000. Binance\u2019s April 24 max pain is near $74,000 with a dominant notional bar. OKX places its April 24 max pain at approximately $72,000 as well. With <span>bitcoin<\/span> at $76,185 today, spot is trading above max pain on all three platforms, which, if the theory holds, creates gravitational pull toward the downside into next Friday\u2019s expiry.<\/p>\n<p>Total <span>bitcoin<\/span> options open interest across all venues recently bottomed near $6.27 billion before recovering to current levels, according to Coinglass metrics. The broader data from early 2024 through April 2026 shows that options OI broadly tracked the <a href=\"https:\/\/markets.bitcoin.com\/crypto\/bitcoin\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">BTC price<\/a> on the way up and the way down. The current options market has contracted meaningfully from its peak, consistent with the futures data, but it sure hasn\u2019t collapsed, which suggests ongoing institutional engagement rather than full retreat.<\/p>\n<p>The broader picture this week is one of a derivatives market recalibrating around a lower price range. Futures open interest has contracted, but it is rebounding slowly from the lows seen in March. CME options lean put-heavy. Near-term expirations dominate the stack. Max pain sits below spot. <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/coinbase-finalizes-deribit-acquisition-to-lead-global-crypto-derivatives-market\/\">Deribit<\/a> call <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bitcoin.com\/get-started\/what-is-trading-volume\/\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">volume<\/a> still edges out puts, but the most-traded contracts by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bitcoin.com\/get-started\/what-is-trading-volume\/\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">volume<\/a> are downside hedges.<\/p>\n<p>With that said, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.binance.com\/en\/price\/bitcoin\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">bitcoin<\/a> at $76,185 this weekend is holding a range, but the derivatives positioning around it suggests traders are not yet convinced the low is in.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/bitcoin-cme-options-open-interest-stays-put-heavy-as-price-stalls-around-76000\/\">Source link <\/a><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Originally posted on : Bitcoin News ) Key Takeaways: Bitcoin futures open interest fell 4.20% in 24 hours to $58.44B, led by a 35.92% OI collapse at BingX. CME posted a rare 2.61% OI gain while put options dominated its options book, signaling institutional hedging demand. Max pain for the April 24 expiry sits near [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":71330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71329"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}