Bitcoin Hits Three-week Low As $14B Options Expiry Shakes Bulls
Bitcoin (BTC) extended its decline on Friday as traders reacted to the year’s largest options expiry and continued caution in crypto ETF flows.
Summary
- Bitcoin fell below $66,000 after $14 billion in options expired and ETF outflows persisted Friday.
- Whale and retail wallets added Bitcoin in March even as price dropped and sentiment weakened.
- Analyst XO said a drop toward $55,000 to $60,000 could set up longs in April.
Consequently, the drop pushed the asset to its lowest level in more than three weeks, even as some market signals pointed to rising accumulation and possible oversold conditions.
Bitcoin fell to as low as $65,500 on Friday, its weakest level since March 2. At the time of writing, BTC traded near $66,300, down 2% over 24 hours and 6% over the past week (per CoinGecko’s data).
Meanwhile, the move came as roughly $14 billion in Bitcoin options expired, based on open interest. That expiry added pressure to an already cautious market and pushed traders toward a more defensive stance during the session.
ETF activity also remained in focus as investors continued pulling funds from spot Bitcoin products. Data showed that investors withdrew $171 million from spot ETFs on Thursday, adding to short-term pressure on price action.
Still, the broader monthly picture looked more balanced. March recorded about $1.4 billion in net inflows into Bitcoin ETFs after four straight months of net outflows, showing that demand had not fully disappeared despite the latest setback.
While price remained under pressure, on-chain data pointed to continued buying from large holders and smaller wallets. According to Santiment, wallets holding between 10 and 10,000 BTC added 61,568 BTC over the past month, a 0.45% increase.
Smaller holders also showed similar behavior. Wallets with less than 0.01 BTC increased their balances by 0.42% over the same period, nearly matching the pace seen among whales and sharks.
Market watchers also pointed to oversold signals as Bitcoin traded well below its October 2025 all-time high above $126,000. Current pricing left BTC down 47.42% from that peak, while its market capitalization stood near $1.33 trillion.
Crypto analyst XO said March could mark only the second time Bitcoin posts six straight losing months if the month closes in the red. He wrote,
“If April sees an early sweep into the $55–60K range, it could create a compelling setup for mean-reversion longs.”
He also said that the higher timeframe trend would stay in control unless a clear structural shift appears.
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
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