[Bitcoin Options with a Notional Value of $11 Billion to Expire Tomorrow; Traders Wary of Increased Volatility Around Midterm Elections] BlockBeats reported on October 29th, citing Bloomberg, that approximately $11 billion worth of Bitcoin options, representing about one-third of Deribit's open interest in Bitcoin options, will expire on October 30th. Traders are wary of the expiration settlement and potentially increased price volatility around the US midterm elections on November 3rd. Of the expiring contracts, call options outnumber put options, with strike prices concentrated at $90,000, $95,000, and $100,000. With Bitcoin hovering around $80,000, these high strike price contracts are likely to expire worthless. Adam Haeems, Head of Asset Management at Tesseract Group, stated that approximately 70% of the expiring options have a Gamma concentrated in the $75,000 to $82,000 range. Gamma reflects the impact of price changes on market makers' hedging demand. For options with strike prices below $80,000, the number of put options is more than twice that of call options. He emphasized that publicly available data cannot determine the direction of market makers' positions; if they hold short options, hedging could accelerate Bitcoin's decline in the $75,000 to $78,000 range, while positions in the opposite direction could cushion the fall. Caroline Mauron, co-founder of Orbit Markets, believes that more significant volatility may occur after Friday's expiration. Investors holding Bitcoin and selling options typically sell new contracts after the old ones expire, but some sellers may wait until after the midterm elections to act. She stated that the reduced supply of regular Gamma could increase price volatility during the election results announcement period. The election results could also affect Trump's ability to advance pro-crypto policies. A Bloomberg Market Pulse survey shows that the median year-end price forecast for Bitcoin is $90,800 if Republicans retain control of both houses; $76,450 if Democrats control both houses; and $84,100 if each party controls one house. Wincent senior executive Paul Howard stated that the election may prompt investors to buy more put options close to current prices to hedge against further declines. He anticipates a significant rebound in November after a year of historically low volatility, with the market increasing positions that benefit from price volatility. [Original Link]