The March 28 quarterly options expiry on Deribit settled $6.8B in notional options — surpassing the previous record of $5.1B set in December 2024. Max pain was pinned at $92,000, but BTC spot settled at $97,400 at 08:00 UTC, leaving most short-strike calls deep in the money. Over 68% of expired contracts were calls — reflecting the structural bullish positioning going into Q2 2026.
Post-expiry, implied volatility briefly collapsed to 48% before recovering sharply as the market repriced for the Q2 rally. OKX and Bybit combined added another $1.2B in expired notional for a total cross-exchange expiry of $8.0B — a weekly record for the industry.