BTC Options: 29,600 Contracts Expire at $73K Max Pain

BTC options expiry on September 4 saw 29,600 contracts settle with a 0.65 put-call ratio, $73,000 maximum pain and $2.39 billion notional value while 139,000 ETH contracts expired at a 0.9 ratio, $2,400 pain point and $350 million notional.

Bitcoin has held consolidation around the $80,000 level after the sharp rally two weeks earlier, cycling through quick gains and slow sideways drifts as monthly realized volatility climbed to 40% against a 36% implied volatility print. The 15-day VRP sits at -6% after touching -16%.

Price action on the 4h chart remains in a bullish trend structure above the EMA50 at $78,311.64 and EMA200 at $72,611.29, with MACD confirming the golden cross at 781.72 while RSI at 66.95 stays neutral; the market trades inside the Bollinger bands and tests the upper resistance at $82,151.54, suggesting any extension higher will likely meet short-term volatility exhaustion before a healthy retracement toward the 50-EMA support zone.