This Friday, a critical Bitcoin options expiration is approaching. The options contracts totaling $23.6 billion—one of the largest expirations in history—will profoundly impact short-term price movements. Among the most attention-grabbing points is that the biggest pain point points to the key level of $96,000.

From an options perspective, this price level is highly attractive to market participants. Large traders and institutional investors are fully motivated to push the price toward this zone before expiration, aiming to let as many options contracts as possible expire worthless while maximizing their own gains. This sets a clear "upward bias" for the market trend. But every coin has two sides—when options expiration becomes a time for bullish realization, whether the price can hold steady becomes a dividing line. If it cannot sustain the high level, subsequent sell-offs could be quite fierce.

Technical signals appear even more complex. On the four-hour chart, BTC is currently pressed below $90,635 (intraday resistance), with stronger resistance at $93,800. Worryingly, the MACD indicator has already formed a death cross and fallen below the zero line, indicating that bearish momentum is accumulating. The key support level is at $87,880; if this level is broken, there are multiple defensive layers below, including $84,516 (intraday support) and $81,284 (rebound support).

This is the current situation: positive news is fueling optimism, while technical signals are sending a different message. How these two forces will battle will directly determine the final direction of this week’s trend.