A significant development occurred on Friday, marking a milestone in the institutionalization of the bitcoin market, which has been driven by individual investors for years. This is evident in the growth of options linked to BlackRock's bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), IBIT, which has surpassed the total bitcoin options trading on Deribit, a major offshore platform. Notably, IBIT options have closed the gap with Deribit's bitcoin options market in just two years, despite Deribit's head start since 2016. On Friday, the open interest in IBIT options contracts on Nasdaq reached $27.61 billion, exceeding the $26.90 billion in Deribit's bitcoin options, according to data from Volmex.
This achievement signifies that the regulated, institutional-grade bitcoin investment and derivatives infrastructure in the US is now on par with the offshore market. The rise of IBIT options is expected to encourage more Wall Street institutions to explore digital assets, leading to more mature price discovery.
Deribit's Global Head of Retail Sales and Business, Sidrah Fariq, views IBIT's growth as a positive development for the broader crypto derivatives ecosystem, providing US retail investors with direct access to regulated leverage and options exposure. Options are derivative contracts that grant the purchaser the right to buy or sell an underlying asset at a predetermined price. Analysts use open interest to measure market size and participation, while traders utilize options to hedge positions, speculate on price direction, and generate income. The covered call strategy, involving IBIT ETF and IBIT options, is a popular income-generating approach.
Although the two markets now match in scale, they differ in positioning, revealing distinct trader sentiments. According to Volmex, the majority of open interest in IBIT call options is concentrated at strike levels equivalent to bitcoin trading around $109,709.
In contrast, Deribit options positioning is more conservative, with call open interest clustered around $106,000 in BTC terms. The average delta is slightly lower for onshore flow, consistent with retail upside speculation and systematic call overwriting programs. Put positioning is largely aligned across venues, with open interest concentrated around the $63,500 strike.
ETF holders tend to be more patient, with October 2026 expiries preferred in IBIT, while August expiries dominate on Deribit. IBIT's implied volatility is higher than Deribit's, attributed to a structural quirk where ETF holders cannot easily short bitcoin directly, leading to increased demand for put options. The rapid rise of IBIT options is striking, and while it rivals Deribit in scale, the two are not direct substitutes, catering to different investor bases. Fariq believes that IBIT's growth expands the market, increasing sophistication and flow, ultimately benefiting venues like Deribit.