coindesk.com
With bitcoin BTC$93,103.75 trading in a relatively narrow range of $80,000 to $95,000 since November, options have emerged as the largest segment of the derivatives complex in a sign of the maturing market for the largest cryptocurrency.
According to Checkonchain data, aggregate bitcoin options open interest stands at $65 billion while open interest in futures, another type of derivative, is at $60 billion in notional value. Options open interest has exceeded futures open interest since July 2025.
Options are financial contracts that give holders the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an asset at a predetermined price before a set expiry date. They are favored by institutional investors for hedging and volatility strategies, and tend to support more stable market conditions. The strength of options over futures marks a move away from leverage-driven speculation towards volatility and risk management strategies.
In October, when bitcoin touched a record high $126,000, options open interest peaked at nearly $120 billion before declining into the year-end, largely due to contract expiries. Over the same period, bitcoin slid 35% and futures open interest fell from around $94 billion as leverage was wiped out.
The bitcoin options market is increasingly dominated by BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT). Checkonchain data shows IBIT accounts for roughly $33 billion in options open interest, representing a record 52% of the total market.
IBIT options started up in November 2024, and Nasdaq ISE recently requested approval to increase position limits from 250,000 contracts to 1 million, highlighting strong institutional demand.
Since the IBIT options debut, crypto-native derivatives venue Deribit has seen its market share erode. The Coinbase (COIN)-owned platform currently holds around $26 billion in options open interest, down from some $43 billion just before the year-end expiry. Its dominance has slipped below 39% from more than 90% five years ago, according to Checkonchain data.
Bullish Exchange, meantime, has surpassed $3 billion in notional bitcoin options open interest after only a few months of trading. Bullish, a sister company of CoinDesk, now trails only Deribit in bitcoin options trading, having overtaken OKX, Binance and CME.