Bitcoin has just experienced a massive options expiration (approximately $23 billion in contracts), but the market's reaction was not as intense as expected. Rather than a strong breakout, it has fallen into a typical range-bound weak oscillation—that's the real picture right now.



The current price is testing a critical zone: the bottom range between $86,500 and $85,000. In simple terms, this is the decisive battle point between bulls and bears. Looking upward, there is significant resistance around $90,000. If an effective breakout cannot be achieved, the price will continue to fluctuate within the broad range of $85,000 to $94,000.

The options market has provided us with a lot of information. After many contracts expired, open positions were reset, and volatility has eased accordingly. Interestingly, traders are selling puts at low levels and selling calls at high levels—that's a typical volatility harvesting strategy. The result is that put options around $85,000 form a potential support, while call options near $100,000 are capping the upside. This structure signals that the market is quite cautious about large short-term volatility.

What do on-chain indicators and capital flows say? The support from short-term holders' cost basis has been repeatedly confirmed, which is good. The selling pressure from long-term holders is also weakening, and inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs are recovering. It looks somewhat stable. But there's a hidden risk—institutional buying is weakening, and ETFs are still experiencing net outflows. Coupled with reduced liquidity during the holiday season, breaking through may not be so easy.

From a technical perspective, let's review again. Bitcoin has been repeatedly rejected in the $88,000 to $89,000 range, forming a clear "resistance rejection and pullback" pattern. The 50-day moving average and other technical factors further reinforce this oscillation. If the price can hold above $85,000, there may still be a rebound opportunity; otherwise, caution is needed for further downside risk.
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AirdropF5Brovip
· 14h ago
It's that options expiration old trick again. A contract worth 23 billion hits the market, but there's hardly any movement. The market is really starting to get lazy.
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Degentlemanvip
· 14h ago
$23 billion in maturing assets failed to create any waves, now that's true mastery... Where's the expected big volatility? Institutional buying is weak + holiday liquidity is collapsing. What's the point of a breakout? Let's continue the sideways trend. If the 85k level is broken again, it's time to be cautious.
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ProposalDetectivevip
· 14h ago
The result of 23 billion options expiring is like this? It feels like the market makers have taken it all. The 88k-89k threshold is really hard to break through. Let's just continue to fluctuate.
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GweiObservervip
· 14h ago
Another deadlock like this, is it really just 23 billion options expiring? The market is really becoming more and more "Zen." Tired of playing within the oscillation range, either go up or down, can we stop dragging this out? Is the 85,000 level really that strong? Feels like it can break at any time. That volatility harvesting strategy... institutions are quietly setting traps, retail investors are still sleepwalking. Poor liquidity combined with holidays, breaking through is just a hammer, probably after the Spring Festival.
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