Bitcoin Options Reach 59% of Derivatives Open Interest

Bitcoin (BTC) options made up about 59% of the asset’s $129 billion derivatives open interest on Oct. 15, giving options a larger share of the market than futures.

The figures capture open interest at 1 p.m. ET (17:00 UTC) on Oct. 15. Bitcoin options accounted for about $76 billion of the total, which also includes conventional and perpetual futures. Options held about 50% of Bitcoin derivatives open interest at the start of the year.

Options tied to U.S. Bitcoin exchange-traded funds accounted for about $36 billion, or 47%, of all Bitcoin options open interest. Nearly $35 billion of the ETF-related amount was tied to BlackRock’s IBIT. IBIT options open interest was about $11 billion in January 2025.

The $76 billion options total includes contracts tied to U.S. ETFs and options traded on crypto platforms. Open interest expresses the value of positions that remain open; these dollar figures are not a count of contracts traded.

Options can be used to hedge holdings or take positions on price movements and volatility. The rising share measures a change in the value of open positions across the derivatives market. It does not, by itself, identify why traders opened those positions.