Entering the first weekly settlement day of December, we see a limited number of expiring options, with market attention primarily focused on year-end settlement. Currently, open interest at the end of December accounts for more than half of the total open interest.
Historically, the biggest theme for December options trading is year-end settlement. Fourth-quarter options trading volume is high, especially for year-end expiring options. Simultaneously, strong rollover demand this month will lead to a significant increase in open interest for Q1 2026.
Block trades of BTC call options expiring at the end of the year remain the most popular type of block trade, while ETH block trades are relatively few.
Looking at options data, both Skew and Implied Volatility (IV) are declining significantly, indicating that short-term market panic has subsided, and capturing rebounds is currently the mainstream trading strategy. However, in the past two days, there has also been a high proportion of active purchases of ETH put options, indicating many traders are hedging against a potential ETH price drop. ETH sentiment recovery will still take time, and TomLee's continued buying may boost confidence.