Trading near Expiration

Volatility

Trading near expiration in cryptocurrency options involves heightened sensitivity to implied volatility, as time decay, or theta, accelerates. This proximity to the settlement date diminishes the impact of directional price movements, making options pricing increasingly reliant on volatility expectations. Consequently, strategies focusing on volatility capture, such as straddles or strangles, become prominent, though susceptible to rapid premium erosion if volatility doesn’t materialize as anticipated.