According to the Nasdaq stock exchange, Bitcoin spot ETF options trading could be launched as early as Tuesday (19th) Eastern Time. This is a tool that market participants have long anticipated and is believed to attract more institutional investors' interest in cryptocurrency.
Alison Hennessy, head of the listing department for trading products (ETP) at the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, stated in an interview on Monday: "Our goal at Nasdaq is to have these options listed and trading as early as tomorrow."
Introducing these IBIT-based options to the market is, in my opinion, very exciting for investors, as this is what we have heard they hope for.
IBIT is the 'iShares Bitcoin Trust' issued by BlackRock. Although there are currently 12 Bitcoin spot ETFs listed in the US, only IBIT is listed on Nasdaq, so it may be the first to launch options.
Options are a type of derivative financial instrument that allows investors to buy or sell the underlying asset at a predetermined price within a set period. The options mentioned above are based on the IBIT Bitcoin spot ETF. They are particularly attractive to investors because they not only allow for leveraged trades in specific directions but also provide hedging for other positions.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the listing of IBIT options in September, and also approved rule changes submitted by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Cboe Global Markets, which include several other Bitcoin spot ETFs.
As for Bitcoin ETFs other than IBIT, Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart stated that related options could start trading in the next few days. He said:
It is possible that trading will begin this week, perhaps within the next day or two. Currently, we can determine that all regulatory and bureaucratic obstacles have been cleared, and it is just a matter of completing the final detail confirmations.
The market generally assumes that options trading will help attract institutional investors further into the cryptocurrency market. However, how the leverage and hedging associated with options will affect price movements remains to be seen.
