The clock is ticking on one of the most loaded trading sessions in modern market history. June 20 is not just another expiration date. It is the largest options expiration event ever recorded. A total of $6.8 trillion in notional value is set to roll off the books today. That includes contracts tied to stock indexes, ETFs, equity index futures, and individual stocks. The scale is not theoretical. It is confirmed by SpotGamma and tracked by institutional desks across the board.
List of the largest options expirations: pic.twitter.com/hTD5guvCLp
— Financelot (@FinanceLancelot) June 20, 2025
This is not a routine triple witching. It is the first monthly post-holiday options expiration in over twenty-five years. That timing matters. Liquidity is thinner. Positioning is tighter. And the unwind is heavier. Out of the $6.8 trillion expiring, $4.5 trillion is tied directly to S&P 500 index options. That is the core of institutional hedging. Another $1 trillion is linked to single-stock options. Names like Apple, NVIDIA, and Tesla are in the blast radius.
The S&P 500 opened the day down 0.5 percent. The Nasdaq dropped 0.7 percent. Bitcoin slipped 1.2 percent to $62,300. Ethereum fell 1.5 percent to $3,400. These are not isolated moves. They are correlated reactions to the same pressure point. When this much notional value expires at once, dealer hedging flows can swing violently. That means intraday volatility. That means liquidity gaps. That means price action that ignores fundamentals and follows gamma.
Brace for heightened market volatility today:
$6.8 trillion worth of options on stock indexes, ETFs, equity index futures, and individual stocks are set to expire during today's trading session.
This is potentially the biggest “triple witching” OpEx on record, according to… pic.twitter.com/aw7pYbj7bl
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) June 20, 2025
Crypto markets are already feeling it. Total market cap dropped 0.36 percent to $3.23 trillion. Trading volume fell 16.65 percent to $94.66 billion. That is not coincidence. That is capital pulling back ahead of a volatility event. When equity markets convulse, digital assets often echo the move. The correlation tightens. The exits get crowded.
The term “unpinning” is not just trader slang. It describes what happens when large options positions expire and no longer anchor price levels. Once the 4:30pm ET expiration hits, the market is free to move. That freedom cuts both ways. It can mean a breakout. It can mean a breakdown. But it will not mean stability.
Sources:
https://www.coingabbar.com/en/crypto-currency-news/crypto-market-volatility-options-expiry-june-2025
https://www.hokanews.com/2025/06/crypto-market-volatility-today-isnt.html