A significant development occurred on Friday, marking a milestone in the institutionalization of the bitcoin market. Options linked to BlackRock's bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), IBIT, have grown in size, with open interest exceeding that of Deribit, a major offshore player. This shift signals the growing importance of regulated crypto derivatives in the US.
The dollar value of open IBIT options contracts on Nasdaq reached $27.61 billion, surpassing Deribit's $26.90 billion. This milestone indicates that the US is no longer secondary to the offshore market in terms of regulated bitcoin investment and derivatives infrastructure. The rise of IBIT options is seen 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 give 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. Traders use options to hedge existing positions, speculate on price direction, and generate income. One popular strategy involving IBIT ETF and IBIT options is the covered call strategy, which allows investors to profit from BTC's implied volatility. The two markets, IBIT and Deribit, now match each other in scale but differ in positioning, revealing trader sentiment.
According to Volmex, the bulk of open interest in IBIT call options is concentrated at higher strike levels, while put positioning is largely aligned across venues. ETF holders tend to be more patient, with October 2026 expiries preferred in IBIT, while August expiries dominate on Deribit. The implied volatility of IBIT is higher than that of Deribit, attributed to a structural quirk where ETF holders cannot easily short bitcoin directly. The rapid rise of IBIT in the options market is striking, and while it rivals Deribit in scale, the two are not direct substitutes, catering to different investor bases.