The nascent market for bitcoin options contracts saw surging trading volumes as the bitcoin (BTC) spot price dropped heavily last Sunday and Monday. Since then, however, interest has largely died off, with volumes now back to a normal range.
The total bitcoin options trading volume on Monday reached USD 198.7 million, the highest number ever recorded, according to data from crypto trading analytics provider Skew.
A likely explanation for the surging interest in options trading amid this week’s sharp sell-off is investor demand for hedging, a form of financial insurance. For a trader, the goal of a hedge is to structure a trade such that if money is lost on one trade, some amount of money will simultaneously be made back on another trade. In this case, the hedging instrument is an option that pays out if the bitcoin spot price falls.
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