The trading volumes for cryptocurrency derivatives, including options and futures, have experienced a significant increase this week, reaching record highs on various exchanges.
Deribit, a crypto derivatives exchange, announced on February 29th that its 24-hour trading volume had reached an all-time high of $12.4 billion. They also stated that the open interest on their platform had surpassed $29 billion, another record-breaking figure. Additionally, Deribit reported that their client assets had reached $4 billion.
Coinbase Institutional, a regulated futures exchange in the United States, revealed that they had their second-best day ever on March 1st, with a notional volume of $380 million traded in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) contracts. These trades involved a record 850 unique end-users on February 29th.
The Greeks Live, a platform for professional options traders, also experienced a historic high in options trading volume, totaling $620 million within a 24-hour period.
Furthermore, Greeks Live noted that the spot bull market for Bitcoin was being driven by U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), resulting in record-breaking trading volumes as Bitcoin’s price soared to $64,000. However, they mentioned that options volume positions were increasing modestly and stated that the market structure remained healthy due to solid inflows.
It is important to highlight that on every Friday, which is crypto options expiry day, Deribit reported that approximately 32,000 BTC options with a notional value of $1.9 billion are set to expire on March 1st. Additionally, around 235,000 ETH options contracts with a notional value of $793 million are also expiring.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs also had a strong week, with several days recording record trading volumes of over $2 billion. However, there was a significant outflow of nearly $600 million from Grayscale’s ETF on February 29th, causing the net inflow for all ten ETFs to drop to $93.8 million, the lowest level since February 6th, according to preliminary data from Farside Investors. On the other hand, BlackRock’s Bitcoin fund saw net inflows of $604 million on February 29th, surpassing Grayscale’s net outflows and accumulating more inflows than all the other ETFs combined.
In conclusion, the trading volumes for crypto derivatives, particularly options and futures, have experienced a surge this week, reaching new record highs on various exchanges. This increase in trading activity has been driven by factors such as the performance of Bitcoin and Ether, as well as the introduction of spot Bitcoin ETFs. Despite some fluctuations in the market, the overall sentiment remains positive, with solid inflows contributing to a healthy market structure.