Despite witnessing an overall global slump in derivatives activity in August with a decline marked at 12.1% to roughly $1.6 trillion, the Panama-based, cryptocurrency derivatives exchange Deribit experienced a contrasting tale in its crypto trading volume. The resilience, as termed by its Chief Commercial Officer, Luuk Strijers, was owing to the strong performance of their options segment with ETH options volumes reaching their highest since March this year.
Interestingly, the total activity of options, futures, and perpetual futures segments at Deribit rose to $42 billion, marking an impressive 17% increase in comparison to the previous month’s data. This robust performance can be attributed to the gainful execution of option contracts, granting the purchaser the right to either buy or sell the underlying asset at a preset price at a later date. With this, Deribit managed to control nearly 90% of the global crypto options activity, showcasing a perceptible influence in the market.
Bitcoin (BTC), the dominant crypto asset by market value, witnessed immense fluctuation, leading to a price dance between $25,000 and $30,000. The price volatility triggered massive liquidations in futures and options on Deribit and stirred a considerable demand for call and puts. Deribit’s bitcoin implied volatility index (BTC DVOL) and similar ETH-focused gauge experienced a jump to 53% and 50%, respectively from their respective historic lows, denoting a renewed demand for options.
Likewise, the month of August reported an enhanced trading volume in Ether (ETH), soaring to the highest level since March this year. Over 5.6 million ETH option contracts, worth approximately $9 billion at the current market price of ETH, exchanged hands, making it the most substantial single-month tally since this year’s March.
On the other side of the tale, an estimated 0.7 million BTC options contracts subjected to trade continue to exhibit the relentless strength of BTC, initially triggered by its use as a banking system hedge in March, and now injected with a fresh round of vigor due to the impending ETF decision. The story of Deribit’s resilience amidst a global downturn thus throws light on the volatile, yet potential-driven dynamic of the crypto market. One needs to keenly observe, however, if this trend continues or succumbs to macroeconomic factors in the months to come.
Source: Coindesk
