Bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) have been trading within recent price ranges, despite the expiry of quarterly options and a strengthening dollar index. According to Luuk Strijers, chief commercial officer at Deribit, the world’s leading crypto options exchange, BTC Max Pain at a significantly reduced level of $26.5K might alleviate the prevailing downward pressure on prices following the expiration. The max pain point for the June bitcoin options was $26,500, while the max pain point for ether June expiry options was $1,700.
The Dollar Index (DXY) clocked a two-week high of 103.50 before press time, extending a two-day winning streak triggered by upbeat economic data releases. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis will release the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of price pressures, the core personal consumption expenditures price index, or the core PCE deflator, at 12:30 UTC. Economists surveyed by FactSet and published by Barron’s, forecast the index to have risen 0.4% month over month in May after April’s 0.38% rise.
Despite the strengthening Dollar Index, BTC and ETH have remained locked in their respective narrow ranges, recording just a 1% gain on the day to $30,700 and $1,900 respectively. The recent spot BTC ETF filings by BlackRock, Invesco, and Fidelity have buoyed the crypto market sentiment, potentially leading to short-lived losses in bitcoin.