Bitcoin Options Stack $451 Million of Downside Exposure Before CPI

By Isaac • October 12, 2026 11:12 pm •

Bitcoin’s calm surface is hiding a much more defensive options market.

Contracts expiring Friday show roughly $451 million of put exposure concentrated at $76,000, $78,000 and $80,000. Those strikes sit below Bitcoin’s roughly $83,450 price in the source snapshot, but they are close enough to matter after last week’s sharp selloff.

CryptoSlate reported that the October 16 Deribit expiry contained about 15,502 BTC in open options: 9,128 BTC in puts and 6,373 BTC in calls. That produces a put-to-call ratio of 1.43, a clear sign that downside contracts outweigh upside contracts for this expiry.

The largest single concentration is at $80,000, with approximately $188 million in underlying notional exposure. The $78,000 strike carries another $162 million,