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AI Summary
Bitcoin’s derivatives market is undergoing a structural shift, with options activity now surpassing futures — a signal that institutional investors are increasingly prioritizing hedging and volatility management over leverage-driven speculation.
Key takeaways
Bitcoin options open interest has exceeded futures since July 2025
Options now total ~$65B in open interest versus ~$60B in futures
BlackRock’s IBIT controls a record 52% of BTC options open interest
Bullish has surged past Binance, OKX, and CME in options trading
Options eclipse futures as BTC trades in a tighter range
With Bitcoin trading largely between $80,000 and $95,000 since November, derivatives activity has shifted decisively toward options.
According to Checkonchain data, aggregate Bitcoin options open interest has climbed to roughly $65 billion, overtaking futures open interest at around $60 billion. Options have now maintained their lead over futures for more than six months, marking a notable change in market structure.
This transition reflects a move away from leverage-heavy directional bets toward strategies focused on volatility, downside protection, and portfolio risk management, which are typically favored by institutional investors.
Why options matter for market stability
Unlike futures, options grant the right — but not the obligation — to buy or sell an asset at a fixed price before expiry. This makes them especially useful for hedging and volatility strategies, rather than pure speculation.
Historically, futures dominance has been associated with higher leverage and sharper price swings. The growing prominence of options suggests a maturing market that may be more resilient to sudden liquidation cascades.
The contrast was evident late last year. When Bitcoin hit a record high near $126,000 in October, options open interest surged to almost $120 billion. As contracts expired toward year-end, options exposure declined naturally, while futures open interest collapsed from roughly $94 billion as leveraged positions were wiped out during Bitcoin’s subsequent 35% drawdown.
BlackRock’s IBIT dominates Bitcoin options market
The Bitcoin options landscape is now increasingly shaped by BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust.
Data shows iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) accounts for approximately $33 billion in options open interest, representing a record 52% share of the entire Bitcoin options market.
IBIT options launched in November 2024 and have rapidly become the preferred vehicle for institutional exposure. Reflecting this demand, Nasdaq ISE recently applied to raise IBIT options position limits from 250,000 contracts to 1 million, underscoring the scale of institutional participation.
Deribit loses share as Bullish surges
The rise of ETF-linked options has gradually eroded the dominance of crypto-native venues.
Deribit, now owned by Coinbase, currently holds around $26 billion in Bitcoin options open interest — down sharply from $43 billion prior to the year-end expiries. Its market share has slipped below 39%, compared with more than 90% five years ago.
Meanwhile, Bullish Exchange has emerged as a fast-growing competitor. The platform has surpassed $3 billion in notional Bitcoin options open interest after only a few months of trading.
Bullish has now overtaken Binance, OKX, and CME, trailing only Deribit in Bitcoin options activity.
Why it matters
The shift toward options dominance signals a deeper institutionalization of Bitcoin markets.
As ETF-linked options grow and leverage-driven futures trading fades, Bitcoin price action may become less volatile and more range-bound, reflecting structured hedging rather than speculative excess.
For long-term investors, the trend suggests Bitcoin is increasingly behaving like a macro asset with institutional risk controls, rather than a purely speculative instrument — a development that could reshape market dynamics in the years ahead.

According to Cointelegraph, the Bitcoin (BTC) network mining difficulty, which measures the computational challenge of adding a new block to the blockchain, slightly decreased to 146.4 trillion on Thursday. This marks the first difficulty adjustment of 2026. The next adjustment is anticipated to occur on January 22, 2026, at 04:08:12 AM UTC, with an expected increase in difficulty from 146.47 trillion to 148.20 trillion, as reported by CoinWarz. Currently, average block times are at 9.88 minutes, slightly below the 10-minute target, indicating a forthcoming increase in difficulty to better align with the target block time.
In 2025, Bitcoin mining difficulty reached new all-time highs, with the final adjustment of the year slightly increasing the difficulty level. Despite this increase, the difficulty remained below the record high of 155.9 trillion observed in November. The rising difficulty signifies heightened competition for mining blocks, posing additional challenges to the mining industry, which faced macroeconomic, regulatory, and financial obstacles throughout 2025. The year was marked by a challenging margin environment for Bitcoin miners, exacerbated by the April 2024 halving that reduced the block subsidy by 50% and various macroeconomic factors.
The downturn in the crypto market, which began in November, further pressured miners and mining companies. Miner hash price, a crucial metric for profitability that tracks expected revenue per unit of computing power, fell below breakeven levels in November 2025. This metric dropped to a multi-year low of below $35 per petahash-second per day, forcing miners to reconsider whether to continue operations. Additionally, tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump added strain to Bitcoin miners, raising concerns about supply chain shortages.
A sharp decline in the crypto market, triggered by a flash crash in October, led to a 30% drop in BTC prices in November, with Bitcoin reaching a low just above $80,000. Although Bitcoin prices have since rebounded, they remain significantly below the all-time high of over $125,000 achieved in October.