August 14 Options Expiry Data

20,000 BTC options expired, with a Put Call Ratio of 0.84, max pain at $64,000, and a notional value of $1.29 billion. 96,000 ETH options expired, with a Put Call Ratio of 0.95, max pain at $1,900, and a notional value of $180 million. Bitcoin continues to hover around $64K this week, with actual volatility shrinking further. Realized volatility (RV) has dropped to 25%, hitting a historic low and breaking through three key levels from late October, late January, and early June. Implied volatility (IV) is also steadily declining, now at levels last seen in early October of last year. This reflects extreme compression in market sentiment, corresponding to the mid-phase of a bear market. Looking at other major options data, 6% of options are set to expire this week, with open interest significantly decreasing. This is mainly due to last week's bottom-fishing volume shifting to a wait-and-see stance this week. Open interest for call options has dropped noticeably, while Bitcoin's PCR has returned to normal levels, and open interest for put options has only slightly decreased. This has led to further dispersion in bullish GEX, while bearish GEX is also starting to spread out, leaving the market in a state of overall hesitation. Cryptocurrencies have been in a bear market for 10 months now, and Q3 performance hasn’t been great. U.S. capital continues to sell off aggressively, security incidents are frequent, and now might be a good time to consider allocating some out-of-the-money options.