BlackRock's IBIT Options Overtake Deribit in Bitcoin Open Interest
BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) is rapidly reshaping the bitcoin derivatives landscape. On Friday, the notional value of open, active IBIT options contracts on Nasdaq reached $27.61 billion, edging past Deribit's $26.90 billion in bitcoin options open interest, according to data tracked by decentralized crypto volatility protocol Volmex.
The crossover is notable because Deribit has been a core venue for bitcoin options since 2016, while IBIT options have closed the gap in roughly two years. The shift underscores how U.S. regulated, institutional-grade rails for bitcoin exposure and hedging are increasingly matching the scale of offshore markets, potentially drawing more Wall Street participation and contributing to more robust price discovery.
Deribit's Global Head of Retail Sales and Business, Sidrah Fariq, called the development a net positive for the crypto derivatives ecosystem. She noted that U.S. retail investors generally cannot access platforms like Deribit, making IBIT options a direct route to regulated leverage and options exposure. She added that macro factors such as supply chain uncertainty, energy shocks, and geopolitical risks are also supporting demand for hedging and options strategies.
Options are derivative contracts that give buyers the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an underlying asset at a set price by a future date. Call options provide the right to buy and typically reflect bullish positioning, while put options provide the right to sell. Open interest is widely used as a proxy for market size and participation; higher open interest often signals deeper liquidity.
Traders use options to hedge spot and futures exposure, express directional views, and generate income. A popular income strategy in the IBIT market is the covered call: investors hold the ETF while selling IBIT call options at strikes well above the current ETF price to harvest implied volatility. This approach has long been common among holders of spot BTC using Deribit.
While the two markets are now similar in size, positioning differs. Volmex data show IBIT call open interest skewing toward strikes that imply expectations of a move equivalent to BTC trading at $109,709 in the near term, about 41% above the roughly $77,400 spot level cited in the data. Deribit positioning is also constructive but slightly more restrained, pointing to expectations around $106,000.
Volmex said onshore call open interest is concentrated around 4 percentage points further out of the money than offshore, with a slightly lower average delta. The firm attributed the pattern to onshore flows dominated by retail upside speculation and systematic call-overwriting programs, which tend to cluster open interest at farther out-of-the-money strikes.
Expiry preferences also diverge. Across both venues, IBIT activity is more heavily weighted toward October 2026 expiries, while August expiries dominate on Deribit. On an open-interest-weighted basis, Volmex estimates IBIT options are roughly two months longer-dated, with a similar gap across puts and calls. The firm said this likely reflects differences in the investor base: longer-horizon ETF investors onshore versus more tactical offshore positioning, rather than a one-sided demand for upside or protection.
Volmex also observed that IBIT's implied volatility for the next four weeks sits above the level implied by Deribit's BTC options. The firm attributed the premium to a structural feature of ETFs: many holders cannot easily short bitcoin directly, so put options become a primary hedge, supporting demand and keeping implied volatility somewhat elevated.
Even as IBIT's rise brings it closer to Deribit in scale, the products serve different audiences. IBIT options primarily cater to regulated, onshore investors accessing bitcoin exposure through traditional brokerages, while Deribit remains a key venue for global crypto-native participation. Fariq said she does not view the shift as direct competition, arguing that broader adoption of options through IBIT should expand the overall market and ultimately benefit venues like Deribit as trading sophistication and flows increase.
