Options Worth $1.82B Expire, BTC Max Pain at $66K

Max pain at $66,000 gives market makers a clear incentive zone into expiry, and the $1.82 billion notional is large enough that hedging flows around that strike can distort price action in the final hours. The read-through extends beyond BTC: altcoin and RWA-linked tokens typically inherit the volatility as traders rebalance broader books. The open question is whether the pin holds through settlement or breaks on a positioning flush, and how quickly implied volatility resets once the contracts roll off.