This week, the crypto derivatives market witnessed unprecedented activity, with exchanges like Deribit and Coinbase Institutional reporting all-time highs in trading volumes. The surge in trading volumes for options and futures across several platforms marks a significant milestone in the crypto derivatives sector.
Deribit Achieves Milestones
Deribit, a leading crypto derivatives exchange, announced on February 29 that it reached a record 24-hour trading volume of $12.4 billion. Additionally, the exchange reported all-time highs in open interest, which exceeded $29 billion, indicating a robust demand for derivatives contracts. Deribit’s client assets also saw a significant increase, reaching $4 billion.
Coinbase Institutional Sees Surge in Activity
Coinbase Institutional reported its United States-regulated futures exchange had one of its best days on February 29, with a notional volume of $380 million traded in Bitcoin and Ether contracts. This activity spanned across a record 850 unique end-users, showcasing the growing interest in regulated crypto futures markets.
Greeks Live Reports Historic Options Trading Volume
The Greeks Live, a professional options trader’s tooling platform, recorded a historic 24-hour high options trading volume of $620 million on March 1. This spike in options trading volume is attributed to the driving force of U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the current spot bull market, which has seen Bitcoin’s price soar to as high as $64,000.
Options Expiry and Spot Bitcoin ETFs
The last Friday of every week marks the crypto options expiry day, with Deribit reporting approximately 32,000 BTC options set to expire on March 1, alongside around 235,000 ETH options contracts. Meanwhile, spot Bitcoin ETFs also experienced a strong week, with several days of record trading volumes surpassing $2 billion.
Net Inflows and Outflows
Despite a near $600 million outflow from Grayscale’s ETF on February 29, BlackRock’s Bitcoin fund managed to record net inflows of $604 million on the same day, outpacing the net outflows of Grayscale and contributing to more inflows than all other ETFs combined. This activity has brought the net inflow for all ten ETFs to $93.8 million, the lowest level since February 6, according to Farside Investors.
