- Outstanding Bitcoin futures across exchanges fell to $46.94 billion, with Binance and CME leading the way with $8.09 billion and $7.24 billion, respectively.
- The volume of put options on Deribit exceeded that of calls, standing at 54.87% compared to 45.13% in 24 hours, indicating a short-term defensive positioning of traders.
- Deribit’s “max pain” for the April 24 deadline sits near $70,000, approximately $3,000 above the current BTC spot price of $66,810.
Bitcoin Futures Open Interest Falls to $46.94 Billion
The total open interest of Bitcoin futures (OI) across exchanges stands at 703,140 BTC, or the equivalent of $46.94 billion, according to Coinglass futures statistics. This figure has fallen considerably compared to the peaks observed at the end of 2025, when open interest on the stock exchanges briefly reached the $100 billion mark, alongside BTC prices around $140,000.
Binance leads all platforms with 121,250 BTC of outstanding futures contracts, or $8.09 billion, holding a market share of 17.23%. The CME follows closely with 108,480 BTC, or $7.24 billion, representing 15.42% of the total outstanding futures contracts globally. The outstanding amount of futures contracts is weakening overall. CME recorded a 0.49% drop in its outstanding assets over the last 24 hours. Binance fell 0.96%, OKX 0.31% and Bybit 0.20%.
MEXC and Hyperliquid were the exceptions, recording slight gains of 0.63% and 8.03%, respectively. BingX posted the largest 24-hour increase in outstandings, at 31.77%, although its total outstanding of $588.47 million was only a fraction of that of the major platforms. The overall market recorded a modest 1-hour OI change of -0.32%, with an overall 24-hour increase of just 1.27%.
The playing field of options
On the options side, total open interest in BTC options has fallen sharply from the peak of around $65 billion seen in early 2025, when bitcoin was testing highs above $100,000. Current open interest in options sits near $30 billion, according to data collected by Coinglass. Deribit remains the dominant options platform, with calls outpacing puts in overall open interest at 56.75% versus 43.25%. In raw numbers, this translates to 243,090 BTC in call options versus 185,259 BTC in put options on Deribit. When it comes to actual trading volume over the past 24 hours, put options won out. Bearish contracts accounted for 54.87% of all options traded, with 9,512 BTC in puts versus 7,824 BTC in calls. The most active contract was an April 24 put option at a strike price of $62,000, meaning traders paid to protect themselves in case bitcoin fell below that level before expiration.
The largest open interest positions are split between December 2026 bets on bitcoin reaching $120,000 and a $60,000 put option for the same date, each representing over 6,000 BTC. In the shorter term, the April 24 put at $62,000 represents open interest of 4,648 BTC. This contract will be exercised if bitcoin falls below $62,000 before the April 24 settlement, and enough traders hold it that it is worth watching.
CME options open interest by maturity bracket, as presented by Cryptoquant, shows notable rotation. At the start of April, the dominant concentration was in the one to two month maturity range, with longer maturity contracts occupying a modest place below. Overall CME options open interest, by number of contracts, fell to around 10,000 contracts, near its lowest level since mid-2024.
The put/call split on the CME shows that puts have consistently dominated cumulative open interest in USD value since November 2025, a trend that has continued even as the price has partially recovered from its lows near $65,000. Peak pain levels on Deribit show that the April 24 timeframe is concentrated near $70,000, with the notional value for this date reaching around $6 billion.
“Max pain” curves
Deribit’s “max pain” curve peaks between $77,000 and $78,000 at the June 26 expiry, before falling back towards $75,000 for the September and December 2026 contracts. On Binance, the “max pain” for the April 24 date is located close to $71,500, while the June and September contracts show “max pain” levels around $90,000. OKX displays a similar “max pain” for April 24, close to $71,000, with the September 2026 contract showing a “max pain” close to $80,000.
These three platforms share one thing in common: with bitcoin’s spot price at $66,810, current prices are approximately $3,000 to $4,000 below the nearest “max pain” concentration at the April 24 deadline. This spread creates a pull, at least in theory, because options market makers have an interest in seeing the price rise to settlement. Whether the general macroeconomic environment or Trump’s statements will allow this increase is another matter entirely.
The current decline in both open interest and prices is consistent with previous mid-cycle consolidation phases. Derivatives traders watching the April 24 deadline will find that the strike prices of $62,000 for puts and $72,000 for calls represent the largest weight of outstanding interest in Deribit in the short term. The $75,000 call option with the same maturity is also among the largest in terms of open interest. With a spot price of $66,810, the market is between these two strike prices, leaving results reasonably open in either direction as expiration approaches. Currently, the bitcoin derivatives market is showing some caution, and the upcoming deadline will be the next real test.
