According to Coinglass data, total Bitcoin futures open interest across all exchanges fell 4.2% in 24 hours to $58.44 billion (768,160 BTC), with BingX seeing the steepest decline of 35.92%, reflecting market deleveraging amid price stagnation. However, CME futures open interest bucked the trend, rising 2.61% to $10.01 billion, making it the only major platform to post a gain.
CME Options: Put Skew Dominates as Institutions Hedge
CryptoQuant data shows that since Bitcoin’s peak in November 2025, CME options open interest in puts has consistently exceeded calls in USD terms, and this pattern has persisted into the weekend. Puts now heavily outnumber calls across nearly all expiry cycles, signaling strong institutional demand for downside protection. When Bitcoin traded above $100,000, the two sides were more balanced; that equilibrium has now vanished.
Max Pain Below Spot Price Points to Downward Gravity
The “max pain” levels for the April 24 expiry on Deribit, Binance, and OKX cluster near $71,500–$72,000, while the current spot price stands at approximately $76,185. According to max pain theory, options sellers are incentivized to push the price toward that level to maximize their profits, potentially creating a gravitational pull lower ahead of next Friday’s expiry. In the past 24 hours, the most actively traded contract on Deribit was the April 24 put with a strike price of $70,000, with 1,589 BTC changing hands—traders paying for insurance against a drop of roughly $6,000.
Deribit Shows Call Dominance but Short-Term Caution
In contrast to CME, Deribit’s overall options open interest is tilted toward calls, which account for 56.80% (271,909 BTC) versus puts at 43.20% (206,770 BTC). The most popular call is the May 29 expiry at $80,000, with 6,604 BTC in open interest, followed by a Dec 2026 expiry at $120,000. This suggests long-term bullish bets remain intact, but short-term traders are increasingly hedging with puts.
RAVE Token Surges 10,000% Monthly, Enters Top 20
In a contrasting narrative, the token RAVE jumped 50% in 24 hours to $27.88, extending its monthly gain to 10,000%, triggering $19 million in liquidations and pushing it into the top 20 crypto assets by market cap. Analysts caution that such parabolic moves often lack fundamental backing.
Overall, the Bitcoin derivatives market is recalibrating around a lower price range: futures OI has contracted but is slowly recovering from March lows, CME options lean heavily toward puts, short-term expiries dominate the stack, and max pain sits below spot. With Bitcoin trading at $76,185 this weekend, derivative positioning suggests traders are not yet convinced a bottom has been reached.