Bitcoin and Ethereum saw a combined $9.87 billion in options contracts expire today at 08:00 UTC on Deribit, marking the biggest monthly settlement of April. The expiry covered 109,000 BTC contracts worth $8.55 billion and 563,000 ETH contracts valued at $1.32 billion — a significant clearing event that wiped out roughly 25% of total open interest on the platform.

Both assets entered settlement trading well above their max pain levels. Bitcoin's max pain sat at $72,000 while spot price hovered near $77,900, and Ethereum traded around $2,315 against a $2,200 max pain. A bullish backdrop from the Web3 conference in Hong Kong this week appeared to reinforce positive sentiment heading into the expiry.

Call open interest led on both assets, with ETH showing the stronger bullish tilt — 322,373 calls versus 245,862 puts — suggesting traders had been positioning for further upside.