Overview
- Deribit’s March settlement involved about 24,838 contracts worth roughly $1.7 billion, and price gravitated to the $70,000 max‑pain strike reported by several outlets.
- Market data shows about $541 million in 24‑hour liquidations with roughly 80% from long positions, led by Bitcoin and Ether losses.
- Open interest of roughly $596 million at the deep $20,000 put strike ranks as the third‑largest, alongside heavy interest at $75,000 and $125,000.
- Deribit executive Sidrah Fariq and other analysts note much of the $20,000 put flow likely represents premium‑collection strategies rather than outright crash hedges.
- On‑chain and derivatives signals remain fragile, with more than 28,000 BTC recently sent to exchanges at a loss and conflicting datasets still citing a larger $13.5 billion expiry stack and differing max‑pain levels near $70,000–$75,000.