The $20,000 Bitcoin put option has become the third most popular strike price before the quarterly expiration

According to CoinDesk, before the expiration of Deribit Bitcoin quarterly options, the $20,000 put options have become the third most popular strike price, with a nominal value of approximately $596 million, reflecting traders' positioning for extreme downside 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 ($687 million), and $20,000 put options ($596 million), showing a wide distribution of expectations for both upward and downward movements. The total nominal value of this Deribit Bitcoin options expiration is $13.5 billion, with a total open interest of 195,719 BTC, including 120,236 BTC in call contracts and 75,482 BTC in put contracts.

With the current BTC price below $70,000, the $20,000 strike price is considered deeply out-of-the-money, only profitable if the market drops more than 70% from the current price. A significant amount of such activity is likely traders collecting premiums by selling these deeply out-of-the-money put options, reflecting a low probability expectation of a drop to $20,000, rather than directly hedging against crash risks— in other words, this is more of a yield enhancement or volatility strategy rather than a direct bearish bet.

Overall sentiment indicates that despite the market being in extreme fear, the put/call ratio in the options market remains at 0.63, meaning there are more call options than put options, and the overall sentiment is still slightly bullish. The maximum pain point is at $75,000, which may create a magnetic effect on Bitcoin prices before expiration.