Bitcoin reached $82,000 on the back of the Clarity Act Senate vote before reversing sharply, and the level where the rally stopped was not arbitrary.
- BTC at $79,234, down 2.29% on the day, session high $81,664
- SMA200 at $81,957: session high stopped $293 below this level
- Deribit BTC max pain: $80,000. Put/Call ratio: 0.55. Notional: $2.01B
- RSI at 52.62, signal at 62.47: spread of 9.85 points, momentum broken
- Options expired at 08:00 UTC today: $2.63B total across BTC and ETH
Where the rally stopped and why
Bitcoin opened at $81,090 and reached a session high of $81,664 before reversing to $79,000 at the time of writing, a loss of 2.29% on the day. The Clarity Act Senate Banking Committee vote provided the catalyst for the early push, and the SMA200 provided the ceiling.
The session high of $81,664 is $292 below the SMA200 at $81,957, meaning the Clarity Act rally ran directly into the daily chart’s most significant moving average and reversed within $300 of it, a precision that is unlikely to be coincidental in a market where the SMA200 has been visible overhead resistance for months. Short-term traders distributed into the upward momentum, pulling price back through the open and toward the session low of $78,659.
What the options expiry added to the session
Deribit’s options expiry alert confirmed that $2.63 billion in crypto options expired at 08:00 UTC today. BTC accounted for $2.01 billion of that notional, with a put/call ratio of 0.55 and a max pain level of $80,000. ETH accounted for $625 million with a put/call ratio of 0.39 and a max pain level of $2,300.
🚨 Options Expiry Alert.
At 08:00 UTC tomorrow, over $2.63B in crypto options are set to expire on Deribit.bitcoin:native : $2.01B notional | Put/Call: 0.55 | Max Pain: $80,000
ethereum:native : $625M notional | Put/Call: 0.39 | Max Pain: $2,300Compared to last week, expiry… pic.twitter.com/r0cJwp1eRy
— Deribit (@DeribitOfficial) May 14, 2026
Deribit’s BTC max pain level of $80,000 sits $765 below the current price of $79,234 — the market has overshot max pain to the downside after first overshooting it to the upside by $1,664 at the session high, which means the options expiry at 08:00 UTC has bracketed the day’s entire price range around a single gravitational level. The put/call ratio of 0.55 confirms calls dominated positioning, consistent with the upside bias the Clarity Act catalyst generated. The expiry of that call-heavy positioning at 08:00 UTC removed the derivatives support underpinning the bullish structure, leaving spot dynamics to determine where price settles.
What the RSI says about the day’s move
A daily RSI at 52.62 sitting 9.85 points below its signal line on a 2.29% down day describes the momentum signature of distribution rather than panic: the signal line at 62.47 reflects the bullish trend that built through April and May, and the RSI falling sharply below it in a single session shows that trend is being tested but has not been broken. RSI at 52.62 remains above 50, meaning the daily momentum is still marginally net-positive. The move is a correction, not a trend reversal, until RSI closes below 50 on the daily.
A daily close above the SMA200 at $81,957, with RSI recovering above its signal line at 62.47 within the next three sessions, would confirm the SMA200 test was absorbed and the Clarity Act catalyst has more price discovery ahead of it.
A failure to reclaim $80,000 within the next three daily sessions, with RSI continuing to trade below its signal line at 62.47, would indicate the sell-the-news distribution has removed the short-term momentum needed to retest the SMA200 and the market requires a new catalyst before another attempt at that level.
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