Options now comprise nearly half of Bitcoin’s derivatives market, signaling a structural shift

Bitcoin’s derivatives market looks nothing like it did a few years ago. Options now account for nearly 50% of total notional open interest across Bitcoin derivatives, roughly double their share from earlier periods when they hovered around 25%. The shift represents one of the most significant structural changes in crypto trading since the asset class went institutional. A joint report from Glassnode and Bybit, titled “The State of Crypto Derivatives,” lays out the transformation in stark terms. Dated futures, once the backbone of crypto derivatives trading, have seen their volume collapse by 97% from peak levels hit in 2021. The instruments that replaced them tell a story about what traders actually want: perpetual futures for directional bets and options for everything else. The death of dated futures and the rise of options Perpetual futures, which have no expiry and use funding rates to stay tethered to spot prices, turned out to be a better fit for a market that trades 24/7 and doesn’t operate on quarterly cycles. The Glassnode-Bybit report found that options gained market share in four out of five distinct market regimes since 2019. The most aggressive expansion happened durin...