The Bitcoin price could experience major swings this Friday as billions of 
dollars in options are set to expire. A crypto market expert has warned that 
the scale of this event could trigger “something big,” potentially affecting 
both volatility and the actions of retail and institutional investors. Bitcoin 
Price Braces For Major Moves This Friday On Monday, crypto analyst NoLimit 
signaled that this upcoming Friday could be a historic moment for Bitcoin. 
According to the expert, over $23.6 billion worth of Bitcoin options are 
scheduled to expire on December 26, marking the largest options expiry the 
market has ever seen. The analyst has stated that anyone with crypto holdings 
should pay close attention. Related Reading: The Bitcoin Bull And Bear Cases 
That Crypto Traders Should Know About NoLimit explained that an options expiry 
involves leveraged bets on Bitcoin’s price. He stated that calls are wagers 
that the price will rise, while puts predict it will fall. The analyst also 
emphasized that when these options expire, they either become worthless or 
force buying and selling in the spot market to hedge the positions. He also 
highlighted that with $23.6 billion in options expiring in a single day, a 
massive amount of risk will be removed from dealer books all at once. 
According to the analysis, this risk offloading is a key driver of market 
volatility, as the magnitude of the expiry is unprecedented. Looking at the 
data, previous year-end expiries were significantly smaller. In 2021, the 
options expiry was around $6 billion, followed by $2.4 billion in 2022. It 
climbed to $11 billion in 2023 and reached $19.8 billion in 2024. NoLimit has 
suggested that this year&#8217;s jump to $23.6 billion represents a significant 
shift in market dynamics. The analyst pointed out that retail investors no 
longer dominate the market. He stated that institutional-sized risk is now 
being repriced in real time, and this Friday could trigger significant price 
movements. NoLimit also suggested that the scale and timing of the expiry make 
it a critical event for traders and investors in the market. Analyst Reveals 
Why This Friday Truly Matters In his analysis, NoLimit outlined the specific 
reasons why this Friday truly matters as Bitcoin’s $23.6 billion options 
prepare to expire. He explained that dealers are heavily hedged around key 
strikes, and once expiry hits, those hedges are removed. As a result, the 
shift can trigger sharp moves for Bitcoin in either direction. Related 
Reading: Don’t Expect A Fast Bitcoin Move – Here’s How Long The Last Leg Could 
Take The analyst noted that current market conditions could further amplify 
the impact. According to his analysis, Bitcoin’s liquidity is extremely low 
during the holiday week, and less volume typically means each order has more 
influence. As a result, the expert stated that a violent price move could 
occur even without major news. NoLimit also noted that much of Bitcoin’s Open 
Interest is concentrated near the major psychological levels. Once the expiry 
passes, this open interest disappears entirely. He explained that this is why 
markets often experience sideways trading leading into expiry, followed by a 
clear directional move shortly afterward. The analyst added that volatility is 
the key setup this week. He says the crucial moment to watch is the Bitcoin 
price after the expiry, not before. Featured image from Pixabay, chart from 
Tradingview.com

Why This Friday Could Be Very Big For The Bitcoin Price

Crypto market maker DWF Labs settled its first physical gold trade, signaling 
a rare move into legacy commodities amid surging bullion prices.

DWF Labs’ physical gold trade signals crypto capital’s move into commodities

Silver breaks above $71 after a 138% rally in 2025, lifting its market cap 
near $4 trillion as investors seek hedges.
The post Silver hits record high above $71 as market cap approaches $4 
trillion appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Silver hits record high above $71 as market cap approaches $4 trillion

Alphabet Inc. has agreed to acquire clean energy developer Intersect Power LLC 
for $4.75 billion in cash, plus existing debt, as the Google parent races to 
secure reliable electricity for its rapidly expanding artificial intelligence 
(AI) data center empire, Bloomberg reported. Alphabet Snaps up Intersect Power 
as AI Data Centers Strain U.S. Grids The deal […]

Google Parent Alphabet to Buy Intersect Power for $4.75B to Fuel AI Data Center Expansion

Bitcoin’s recent price action has started to wear on people. After a strong start to the year and a run that pushed above $100,000 and briefly touched $125,000, the market has drifted into something closer to a low-volatility grind. On the 1000x podcast, ProCap’s Jeff Park argued that this shift in “market structure” is not a minor detail. In his view, it is the central reason Bitcoin has struggled to reassert momentum, even as gold and other commodities have pushed to fresh highs. Bitcoin Needs Volatility Park’s thesis is straightforward: Bitcoin’s upside story historically leans on volatility. If volatility compresses and stays compressed, Bitcoin loses one of the features that has consistently attracted marginal risk capital, especially the kind of capital that shows up early, pushes price, and then pulls in the next cohort behind it. “There’s two things we need to hit on,” Park said. “One is the belief in the projection that I have for Bitcoin to reach meaningfully new highs that we need implied volatility and realized volatility to rise concurrently. And then the second is to your question, why is that not happening today?” He framed Bitcoin less as an isolated “crypto asset” and more as one instrument in a much wider relative-value universe. In that universe, Bitcoin competes for allocation with equities, rates, FX, and commodities, not just other tokens. And the attribute that made Bitcoin distinct for many allocators was its capacity for asymmetric outcomes, which volatility helps express. Related Reading: Bitcoin Perps Heat Up Again As Leveraged Longs Rise “Bitcoin is not in a microcosm of its own, right?” Park said. “You’re competing with Mag 7, you’re competing with gold, you’re competing with FX, you’re competing with JGBs, and it’s a huge world out there. And the feature that I think Bitcoin has always been exciting for a lot of folks is to capitalize upon asymmetric outcomes in which the volatility is one of the unique features that makes it worthwhile for the risk-taking endeavor.” Bitcoin Needs ‘Real’ Buyers That sets up the uncomfortable comparison the hosts kept circling: gold making new highs while Bitcoin lags. Park didn’t try to wave it away. He called it a moment for Bitcoin holders to be realistic about adoption and about where the truly structural bids are right now. “The reality is gold is going up because there’s real buyers, right?” he said. “There’s real buyers stepping in as there has been for the past year and a half. And those structural bids continue to exist because it has found a product market fit within our global monetary framework as a reserve asset.” Park argued Bitcoin is not there yet. Yes, there are recurring headlines about sovereign interest, and he referenced the Czech Republic’s central bank as an example of a country testing Bitcoin exposure. But he emphasized that the dominant flows in 2025 have been ETFs and corporates, not governments and not central banks. “Make no mistake, it’s not governments and it’s not central banks,” he said. “Most of the flows today have come from ETFs and corporates. ETFs are coming because there’s private wealth investment advisors that want exposure to an asset class… Corporates have a very different intention of what they’re trying to accomplish.” Related Reading: Galaxy Predicts Bitcoin At $250,000 In 2027, Chaos In 2026 In Park’s telling, that distinction matters because it changes the market’s tone. ETF buyers are often seeking portfolio construction benefits, decorrelation, optionality, a non-consensus sleeve, rather than the kind of high-conviction, narrative-driven bid that historically made Bitcoin feel like the market’s main event. Retail Adoption Must Return Park then extended the argument into a broader cultural point about who actually pushes new adoption. He described Bitcoin as a generational project and warned that institutionalization only works if it remains anchored to retail participation rather than replacing it. “At the core of it is because Bitcoin is a movement of young people’s hearts,” Park said. “If young people stop participating, I think the fact that the institutionalization of Wall Street is happening on the back of their investments is also going to come to a halt… If you want Bitcoin to continue to perform, you want to appeal to young participants.” He also pointed to a separate drag: Bitcoin’s risk conversation has become noisier. Park cited renewed “quantum anxiety” and internal disputes around various Bitcoin Improvement Proposals, arguing that even low-probability existential risks need to be compensated and low volatility does not offer that compensation. “Gold doesn’t have that,” he said, contrasting Bitcoin’s ongoing protocol and existential debates with gold’s comparatively settled narrative. “You have to be compensated for it… and you are certainly not going to be compensated for quantum risk with Bitcoin vol at 25.” Even so, Park did not present the long-term case as broken. If anything, he argued Bitcoin’s advantage becomes more obvious when you focus on practical ownership rather than financialized wrappers. He described physical gold as operationally difficult – opaque pricing, logistical friction, authenticity concerns — and said Bitcoin still offers something closer to a single global clearing price and simpler portability. “Anyone who’s ever tried to buy physical gold knows how annoying that process is,” he said. “The pricing is intransparent. The logistics is unclear and ultimately authenticity too… Bitcoin still has what I call a singularly clearing price for trading.” Why Isn&#8217;t Bitcoin Going Up? | Jeff Park https://t.co/CxtFhRKcIZ — 1000x (@1000xPod) December 22, 2025 At the end, Park said the main question going forward is whether Bitcoin can regain the conditions that historically pulled new participants into the trade and whether the market is willing to pay for the risk it keeps insisting Bitcoin represents. At press time, Bitcoin traded at $87,779. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com

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