🟡Will Crypto Markets Tank Further When $4.7B Bitcoin Options Expire Today?
🟡round 58,000 Bitcoin $BTC options contracts will expire on Friday, Feb. 28, and they have a notional value of roughly $4.7 billion.
This week’s expiry event is larger than usual because it is the end of the month. However, the impact on spot markets is likely to be minimal as they’re already reeling from US President Trump’s trade war.
🟡Bitcoin Options Expiry
This week’s big batch of Bitcoin options contracts has a put/call ratio of 0.71, meaning that there are slightly more call (long) contracts expiring than puts (shorts).
Moreover, open interest (OI), or the value or number of BTC options contracts yet to expire, still remains highest at the $120,000 strike price, which is $1.5 billion, according to Deribit.
There is also around $1 billion in OI at the $100,000 and $110,000 strike prices. Bearish sentiment is also seeping back as $800,000 in OI currently sits at the $80,000 strike price, which is where the asset stands now.
Crypto derivatives provider Greeks Live said the team was “predominantly bearish,” with traders watching $82,000 as a “critical support level that must hold to maintain the high timeframe trend.” However, that line has been broken to the downside as of press time.
Technical analysis suggests if the price closes below the 2024 volume weighted average price (VWAP) bands, “the higher timeframe trend would be ‘cooked’ and could lead to $77,000 to $72,000 levels,” warned Greeks.
Around 526,000 Ethereum contracts are also expiring today, with a notional value of $1.14 billion and a put/call ratio of 0.52. This brings Friday’s combined crypto options expiry notional value to around $5.8 billion.
🟡Crypto Markets Tank
This week’s market rout has continued into Friday, with total capitalization dumping a further 6% on the day to $2.76 trillion. It has now fallen through longer-term support and could return to October levels.
Bitcoin dumped 5% in a fall to $80,200 during Asian trading on Friday morning. The asset has now lost 18% in a week, and its correction has deepened to 25% from all-time highs. The last time BTC was below $80,000 was on Nov. 10.
Meanwhile, Ethereum has dumped 8% to its lowest level for more than a year, hitting $2,150 on Friday morning as its weekly losses amount to a whopping 22%.
The altcoins were a sea of red with them all bleeding out by similar amounts at the time of writing.
Top 3 Crypto Staking Coins for 2025: Maximize Your Passive Income Potential
The Crypto market advances as NEAR Protocol, Flow and Safe which build innovations to improve scalability and security and boost user experience. The innovative projects help expand adoption of decentralized applications along with digital assets through their unique technological solutions.
Source: Coinmarketcap
NEAR Protocol functions as a layer-one blockchain network which helps solve speed limitations and interoperability problems. NEAR offers developers an environment that enables simplified access through readable account names beyond the limitations of usual cryptographic addresses. The platform achieves efficient network operations through its Doomslug consensus mechanism.
The NEAR Collective works as an active community that performs ongoing updates to ensure both security and performance quality of the protocol. The blockchain ecosystem enables two key projects namely Flux along with the NFT minting platform known as Mintbase. NEAR creates a protected digital assets management system which maintains functionality for normal application use.
Source: Coinmarketcap
Flow operates at blockchain Layer-One to support consumer-level applications and digital asset management systems. The platform reaches its scalability through multi-role architecture combined with Proof of Stake consensus for sustaining decentralization. Top companies like NBA and NFL along with Disney have adopted the network through their support of NBA Top Shot and NFL ALL DAY applications.
With the launch of the Crescendo upgrade in September 2024, Flow achieved full Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) equivalence, allowing seamless integration with Ethereum’s infrastructure. Additional improvements include enhanced developer tools, better performance, and forward compatibility, expanding its utility across web3 applications.
Source: Coinmarketcap
Safe serves as a security infrastructure layer for web3, securing over $100 billion in assets. It offers a multi-signature wallet, Safe{Wallet}, and the Safe{Core} infrastructure, which facilitates smart account adoption. The protocol supports various blockchain sectors, including DeFi , gaming, and SocialFi, with features such as gasless transactions and simplified user authentication.
Safe has maintained a strong security record, with no critical incidents. It has been widely adopted by individuals, institutions, and major corporations like Shopify and Reddit for asset custody. The platform continues to expand, with over 8 million accounts and more than 40 million transactions recorded as of 2023.
DISCLAIMER: The information on this website is provided as general market commentary and does not constitute investment advice. We encourage you to do your own research before investing.
A Haircut, a Conversation, and the Real Value of Pi
Yesterday, I spent more time than usual at the barber—not just getting a haircut, but explaining blockchain technology to him and his colleagues. Not crypto speculation, not moonshots—just the fundamentals of a decentralized, trustless system and why it matters.
For the first time, my barber had an aha! moment. By the end of our talk, he was convinced enough to take a leap: he started accepting Pi for haircuts. 🚀
To help him get started—since it was his first real experience with crypto—we even set up a simple exchange account, so he could begin exploring the ecosystem and understanding how things work beyond just receiving Pi.
So, naturally, we checked the Pi value at that moment, did some quick math, and rounded it (low) to 1.5 USDT per Pi. I paid 10 Pi for my cut. No fiat, no bank in between—just a direct transaction.
Then this morning, as I checked Pi’s latest value, it hit me:
💡 That same haircut today would have cost me 7 Pi.
I'm sure my barber is happier today about the deal… and I’m excited to chat with him next time I get a cut!
And that’s the point. Pi is no longer just an idea—it’s becoming a real exchange of value. The more people accept it, the more its role in daily life shifts from a "future possibility" to a functional digital economy.
Who’s next?
How much will my next haircut cost me?
😉