With an incredible debut, BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF $IBIT options trading began with the exposure of a net $1.9 billion locked in the contract, showing euphoria in the institutional investors. The BlackRock Spot BTC ETF Options are also the first Options Contracts for Bitcoin ETFs to be approved.
UPDATE: Final tally of $IBIT‘s 1st day of options is just shy of $1.9 billion in notional exposure traded via 354k contracts. 289k were Calls & 65k were Puts. That’s a ratio of 4.4:1. These options were almost certainly part of the move to the new #Bitcoin all time highs today pic.twitter.com/IN3s9hajJ2
— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) November 19, 2024
On the inauguration of BlackRock’s spot BTC ETF options, the record-breaking volume inflowed into 354,000 contracts, with 82% (288,743) of the contracts locked for sale and the remaining 18% (64,973) set as put.
The 4.4:1 ratio of buy-to-sell positions clearly indicates the strong bullish momentum and market confidence of Bitcoin. Through ETF options, BTC is expected to draw some liquidity from Wall Street under the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) supervision.
Spot Bitcoin ETF Options: Bitcoin’s Entry in Wall Street
Analyst Eric Balchunas writes on X, “A few hundred million so far in options volume on $IBIT (a ton for Day One).. here’s a rank of the contracts by volume, it’s almost all calls. Seems very bullish, esp the Dec20th C100, which is basically betting price of btc will double in the next month.”
Spot BTC ETF Options are financial derivative products that allow investors to buy or sell an asset at a predetermined price within a specific period. Options help investors to capitalize on speculative gain by mitigating risk.
Spot BTC ETF Options opened a door for Wall Street’s Bitcoin to achieve widespread adoption and institutional participation.
According to Eric Balchunas, the first day of Spot BTC ETF options with $1.9b volume “isn’t quite big dog level yet tho”. He added, “eg $GLD did $5b today, but give it a few more days/weeks.”
While most analysts are optimistic about BTC options, it is a point to note that such derivatives could also magnify market volatility.
After the incredible performance of Spot BTC ETF options, the price of BTC skyrocketed exponentially. At the time of publication, BTC hovers around $93,000, with a 1.07% hike in the last 24 hours. Now, the liquidity inflowed into options could help BTC break its psychological barrier at $100,000.
