Approximately 20,000 Bitcoin options contracts will expire on Friday, Jan. 3, in the first such event of 2025.

They have a notional value of $1.93 billion, which is a fraction of last week’s mammoth end-of-year expiry event, so the impact on spot markets is likely to be minimal.

Bitcoin Options Expiry

This week’s batch of Bitcoin options contracts has a put/call ratio of 0.68, meaning that there are more long (call) contracts expiring than short (put) contract sellers.

Open interest, or the value or number of options contracts yet to expire, is highest at the $120,000 strike price, with $1.4 billion in OI, according to Deribit. There is also $1.3 billion in OI at $110,000, so derivatives traders remain bullish with open contracts at higher strike prices.

On Jan. 2, Deribit reported that the continuous trading market, or perpetual swaps, is showing more optimistic signals, similar to what was seen before the recent downturn.

“Options markets report a similarly mixed message: BTC’s short-tenor volatility smiles remain slightly more skewed toward OTM puts, while longer tenors have increased their bullish tilt.”

It added that December’s end-of-year expiration of a significant proportion of the market’s OI in options “did not result in the fireworks that some expected.”

Earlier this week, crypto derivatives provider Greeks Live observed that a major short call position had been put on Bitcoin with a notional value of $42 million. The speculator is betting that BTC will not exceed $150,000 by March 28 and stands to net $900,000 from the bet if successful.

In addition to today’s Bitcoin options, around 205,000 Ethereum contracts are expiring today. These have a notional value of $710 million and a put/call ratio of 0.82.

This brings Friday’s combined crypto options expiry notional value to around $2.6 billion.

Crypto Market Outlook

Around $160 billion has entered crypto markets since the beginning of the year on Wednesday, lifting total capitalization to $3.56 trillion.

Bitcoin has had a solid 24 hours, gaining 1.7% to stand close to the $97,000 level during early trading in Asia on Friday. However, it remains range-bound and needs to clear resistance at the psychological $100,000 level to see further momentum.

Meanwhile, Ethereum, which has been predicted to perform well this quarter, has fared better, gaining 2% on the day as it approaches the $3,500 price level. ETH needs to clear $3,600 to break resistance and notch further gains.

The altcoins were pretty much all in the green this Friday, with most of them outpacing Bitcoin on daily gains.

This week, we examine Ethereum, Ripple, Cardano, Binance Coin, and Solana in greater detail.

Ethereum (ETH)

Ethereum’s rally was cut short in December when sellers quickly returned as soon as the price moved above $4,000. Soon after, the cryptocurrency entered a deep correction that saw it drop to $3,100. Since then, good support was found around $3,300 which held well to date.

At the time of this article, buyers are trying to push the price higher, but the volume is low. Nevertheless, should this trend continue, ETH could aim to hit $3,700 next. The question is if that level will bring back sellers. If not, the most likely candidate is the resistance at $4,000.

Looking ahead, ETH needs to turn $4,000 into a key support if it hopes to make a new price record in 2025. To do so, it needs to move above $4,868, which is the current ATH.

Ripple (XRP)

After a brief correction under $2, XRP is now back on the offensive and is hovering around $2.4 at the time of this article. Buyers seem keen to re-enter and they are currently aiming for $3 as the major target of any future rally.

With the support at $2 confirmed, the bullish momentum is again picking up which could see the price make a higher high later on. That would only embolden buyers more as they seek to reach the ATH from January 2018 at $3.3.

Looking ahead, if this cryptocurrency manages to move above $3.3, then it will enter price discovery and higher targets such as $4 and above become realistic. However, until then, XRP needs to turn $3 into a key support.

Cardano (ADA)

After the price was rejected by the resistance at $1.3, ADA entered a correction which found good support at 85 cents. Since touching that level, buyers have returned and managed to push the price above $1, at the time of this post.

The most important resistance on the current chart is found at $1.3. This level stopped the previous rally, but could soon be tested again. If broken, buyers will aim for $2 as the next major target.

Looking ahead, Cardano performed extremely well in November 2024 when the price increased by 300%. A new rally could happen in early 2025 which may see this cryptocurrency make new highs.

Binance Coin continues to impress after it made a new record price in early December at $794. Momentum remains bullish and buyers are currently confirming the $691 level as support. If it holds, then BNB could make another ATH in 2025.

The most important resistance on the chart is the current price record at $794 which will likely attract sellers again. However, if the overall market continues to trend higher, BNB has a good chance to break that key resistance and rally again.

Looking ahead, Binance Coin has a real chance to reach $1,000 in 2025. The price needs to increase by 40% to reach that level. This appears possible if the market remains bullish in the months to come.

Solana (SOL)

After a quick drop to $175 in late December 2024, Solana buyers returned and they managed to push its price above $200 this week. While it is still early to call it, the price is currently testing the $206 level as a key support. If it holds, SOL has the path open to higher price levels.

The next major resistance levels will be found at $240 and $260. In the past, SOL failed to hold around these price levels and sellers quickly returned there. A decisive breakout above $260 is needed if this cryptocurrency is to make new price records.

Looking ahead, Solana’s correction appears over and buyers are returning. However, their conviction will soon be put to the test if the price approaches $240.

TL;DR

• Ripple (XRP) surged 15% in early 2025, climbing above $2.40, potentially driven by the overall market recovery and Trump’s upcoming inauguration.
• 44.6B Shiba Inu (SHIB) tokens were burned in 2024, reducing supply to 584.1T and boosting scarcity.
• Bitcoin (BTC) rebounded from a late 2024 dip to briefly cross $97,000. Analysts predict a potentially stellar year, with price targets ranging from $120,000 to $280,000.

XRP Starts 2025 on the Right Foot

Despite performing quite impressively in Q4 2024, Ripple’s native token experienced a substantial correction just before New Year’s Eve. Its price briefly plunged below $2, while the market capitalization dipped to approximately $115 billion.

However, the bulls stepped in at the start of 2025, pushing XRP back to green territory. The asset is currently worth over $2.40 (per CoinGecko’s data), representing a 15% rise since the first day of the year. 

Some factors that might have contributed to the rally include the overall crypto market recovery and the resurgence of some important XRP-related metrics. The asset’s price jump also coincides with the release of monthly XRP tokens from escrow. This time, the company announced the effort with an interesting note:

“January 20th is around the corner. Donald Trump will be in the WH, and we are going to make crypto great again!”

The Republican emerged victorious in the US presidential elections in November last year and will officially become the 47th political leader of America in less than three weeks. The community seems excited about his return to the White House due to his numerous pro-crypto promises. We have yet to see whether he will stick to his word and allow the local digital asset industry to thrive during his rule. 

SHIB’s Burning Mechanism

The team behind the popular meme coin adopted a burning program in 2022 that allows the community to send tokens to a null address voluntarily. This leads to scarcity and could make SHIB more valuable (assuming demand doesn’t head south).

Earlier this week, the team announced that over 44.6 billion tokens (worth approximately $1 million) were burned throughout 2024. 

Initially, SHIB had a total supply of one quadrillion tokens. Years ago, though, half of that amount was sent to Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who donated trillions of SHIB to charity organizations and burned the remaining stash. 

As of the moment of this writing, the meme coin’s circulating supply stands at around 584.1 trillion. 

BTC Heads North, too

While the primary cryptocurrency dipped to a one-month low of under $92,000 on December 30, it got back to the green track in the following days. The price crossed $97,000 on January 2, while currently, it is set at around $96,300.

Many market observers think 2025 could be another successful year for BTC. The X users Crypto Rover and Doctor Profit are among the optimists, setting targets of $120,000 and $125,000, respectively.

Trader Tardigrade outlined an even more bullish forecast, envisioning a pump to as high as $280,000 sometime this year.

“If you miss the BTC peak in 2025, you’ll have to wait until 2029,” the analyst suggested.