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Bitcoin Options Volume on Deribit Already 25% of 2020 Total

$14.5 billion in bitcoin options have traded on Deribit in the first two weeks of 2021.

Deribit bitcoin options daily volume since Jan. 2020
Deribit bitcoin options daily volume since Jan. 2020

Deribit traders have already recorded 25% of last year's entire bitcoin options volume.

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  • After a record-setting $2 billion traded Monday, total volume for bitcoin options on Deribit in the past two weeks reached $14.5 billion Tuesday morning.
  • In 2020, all bitcoin options trading on Deribit totaled just less than $57 billion.
  • Contributing to its wild growth in the past month, the Panama-based exchange now offers traders sky-high bets of bitcoin reaching $100,000, $200,000 or even $300,000 by December.
  • At the end of December 2020, Deribit investor and Three Arrows Capital CEO Su Zu predicted that in 2021, "Options markets volume to become over 50% of all crypto derivatives markets." Perpetual cryptocurrency futures markets reported over $190 billion in the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko.
  • Concurrent with soaring volume, bitcoin's implied volatility is surging, according to data from Skew. The one-month gauge currently above 135%, its highest level since March 2020 just after bitcoin's crash below $4,000.
Deribit bitcoin options daily volume since Jan. 2020
Deribit bitcoin options daily volume since Jan. 2020
  • Ether options, although a significantly smaller market, are experiencing similar growth with a record $264 million traded on Jan. 4, per data from Skew, a more than 2,700% increase from three months ago.
  • Deribit routinely accounts for over 85% of daily options volume, per Skew data, with OKEx typically the second-largest bitcoin options market representing around 5% of daily volume.
  • Outside of derivatives markets, all cryptocurrency trading volumes across the board are soaring, with spot markets reaching record levels, even passing 2017's peak, per CoinDesk Research.

Zack Voell

Zack Voell is a financial writer with extensive experience in cryptocurrency research and technical writing. He has previously worked with leading cryptocurrency data and technology firms, including Messari and Blockstream. His work (and tweets) has appeared in The New York Times, Financial Times, The Independent and more. He owns bitcoin.

Picture of CoinDesk author Zack Voell