A $129 billion Bitcoin market—and nearly 60% of open interest is no longer just directional bets 🦖
According to Volmex data from October 21, Bitcoin options accounted for nearly 60% of all derivatives open interest last week. At the start of this year, that share was still 50%—a rise of about 10 percentage points in a year.
ETF options have around $36 billion in open interest, with BlackRock’s IBIT alone accounting for nearly $35 billion. Add roughly $76 billion in options on native platforms, then include futures and perpetuals, and the whole market comes to about $129 billion. Bitcoin is currently trading at around $83,354. 📊
A more telling comparison: IBIT options were worth only about $11 billion in January 2025, versus roughly $35 billion now—almost a threefold increase. ETF options now make up about 47% of the entire Bitcoin options market, though most trading is still concentrated on a certain offshore options exchange.
It’s not that there’s more money—it’s that the way people trade has changed. Going long with perpetual futures means paying funding fees, and those costs can add up if you hold for long. Options have expiry dates: you can bet on direction, buy volatility alone, or sell calls to collect premiums. Positions can be held until settlement. Institutions want this kind of controllable risk exposure.
BlackRock’s moves point to the same thing. In June, it launched BITA, which sells calls to generate monthly income while giving up some upside. This week, it also filed for a buffer ETF that uses options to limit losses while capping gains too. These products are looking more and more like the structured products found in traditional stock markets.
My take: the rise in options’ share from 50% to nearly 60% is changing how prices are formed. Market makers who sell options need to hedge, and their hedging flows drive repeated buying and selling around key price levels. The result is stickier prices, fewer sharp wicks, and less extreme surges and crashes. Bitcoin is starting to behave more like a large-cap stock. 📉
But there’s another side to the coin: muted volatility doesn’t mean the risk has disappeared. The lower volatility gets, the more people sell volatility, and the more crowded those positions become. If a Fed rate decision or a sudden shift in ETF flows hits, hedgers unwinding in the opposite direction could amplify short-term volatility. ⚠️ For retail investors, it may feel like prices rise slowly and don’t fall very far, but the direction gets harder to predict.
Options account for about 75% of derivatives open interest in the S&P 500. Bitcoin is still below 60%. There’s still a way to go.
Do you think Bitcoin will come to resemble a stock index as options’ share keeps rising, or will this just bury the risks deeper? Let’s discuss in the comments.
Tap the profile picture to watch the livestream.
Every day, I’ll help you keep up with the latest in Bitcoin derivatives—not just what’s happening, but also the logic and opportunities behind it. 👀🚀
According to Volmex data from October 21, Bitcoin options accounted for nearly 60% of all derivatives open interest last week. At the start of this year, that share was still 50%—a rise of about 10 percentage points in a year.
ETF options have around $36 billion in open interest, with BlackRock’s IBIT alone accounting for nearly $35 billion. Add roughly $76 billion in options on native platforms, then include futures and perpetuals, and the whole market comes to about $129 billion. Bitcoin is currently trading at around $83,354. 📊
A more telling comparison: IBIT options were worth only about $11 billion in January 2025, versus roughly $35 billion now—almost a threefold increase. ETF options now make up about 47% of the entire Bitcoin options market, though most trading is still concentrated on a certain offshore options exchange.
It’s not that there’s more money—it’s that the way people trade has changed. Going long with perpetual futures means paying funding fees, and those costs can add up if you hold for long. Options have expiry dates: you can bet on direction, buy volatility alone, or sell calls to collect premiums. Positions can be held until settlement. Institutions want this kind of controllable risk exposure.
BlackRock’s moves point to the same thing. In June, it launched BITA, which sells calls to generate monthly income while giving up some upside. This week, it also filed for a buffer ETF that uses options to limit losses while capping gains too. These products are looking more and more like the structured products found in traditional stock markets.
My take: the rise in options’ share from 50% to nearly 60% is changing how prices are formed. Market makers who sell options need to hedge, and their hedging flows drive repeated buying and selling around key price levels. The result is stickier prices, fewer sharp wicks, and less extreme surges and crashes. Bitcoin is starting to behave more like a large-cap stock. 📉
But there’s another side to the coin: muted volatility doesn’t mean the risk has disappeared. The lower volatility gets, the more people sell volatility, and the more crowded those positions become. If a Fed rate decision or a sudden shift in ETF flows hits, hedgers unwinding in the opposite direction could amplify short-term volatility. ⚠️ For retail investors, it may feel like prices rise slowly and don’t fall very far, but the direction gets harder to predict.
Options account for about 75% of derivatives open interest in the S&P 500. Bitcoin is still below 60%. There’s still a way to go.
Do you think Bitcoin will come to resemble a stock index as options’ share keeps rising, or will this just bury the risks deeper? Let’s discuss in the comments.
Tap the profile picture to watch the livestream.
Every day, I’ll help you keep up with the latest in Bitcoin derivatives—not just what’s happening, but also the logic and opportunities behind it. 👀🚀