$23.8 billion BTC options expire at the end of the year: how institutions use "option corridors" to lock in risk

【BlockBeats】The Bitcoin derivatives market is about to face a major liquidation. According to on-chain analysis data, Bitcoin options with a notional value of approximately $23.8 billion will expire on December 26, including quarterly options, annual options, and a large number of structured products.

What does this mean? Before expiration, BTC prices will be structurally constrained, but once the options expire, uncertainty will actually increase—the market landscape may be reshuffled.

The data makes this even clearer. At the two strike prices closest to the current spot price, option open interest (OI) is highly concentrated: at $85,000 puts, there are 14,674 BTC, while at $100,000 calls, there are 18,116 BTC. This scale is no longer retail-level trading; behind it are serious long-term funds—ETF hedging positions, BTC treasury companies, large family offices, and other institutional players holding substantial spot holdings.

Interestingly, these two positions represent two very different market mindsets. What does the $85,000 put accumulation indicate? It shows that buyers are in control—the market has a strong downward hedge demand at this price level, in other words, institutions want to insure their BTC positions.

Conversely, the $100,000 call accumulation may look like a bullish signal, but it’s not. It more accurately reflects the rational choice of long-term funds: they are willing to give up some upside potential above this price point in exchange for stable cash flow and overall risk controllability. By simultaneously buying puts below and selling calls above, they compress BTC’s expected returns within an acceptable range.

This creates an “$85,000–$100,000 option corridor.” Before the December 26 expiration, this corridor will have a subtle structural influence on BTC prices: hidden resistance above, passive buffers below, and oscillation in between. Institutions have already scripted this scenario with options, and spot prices can only move within this framework before expiry.