Leading digital asset margin trading platform Deribit has announced it added daily ether options contracts to its offering.
The trading platform announced the move via a tweet. This is the second options instrument listed on the digital asset exchange as, earlier this month Deribit launched daily Bitcoin index options to its clients.
Our #Ethereum daily options are launching today at 12:00 UTC pic.twitter.com/U44BQoASFc
— Deribit (@DeribitExchange) February 17, 2020
The Panama-based cryptocurrency exchange’s Ethereum-based product has a strike price intervals of $5 while keeping its other parameters similar to those of the Bitcoin options contracts, meaning it has a lifetime of two days and can be traded on the 24-hour preceding the expiry.
Options are derivatives contracts based on the value of an underlying asset. They give their holders the right but not the obligation to buy or sell the asset at a specific price on or before a predetermined date. A call option – a bullish bet – represents the right to buy, while a put option – a bearish bet – represents the right to sell.
Deribit is also set to reduce the tick size for its ether options from 0.001 ETH to 0.0005 ETH on February 19. The platform’s daily products have no settlement or delivery fees, and according to its CMO Andras Caron could attract more users, specifically day traders, to the platform. He was quoted as saying:
Daily options only have one or two days remaining lifetime and thus lower time value or premium and thus [are] cheaper. These shorter-dated, cheaper options are great instruments to use for short term strategies enabling the trader to hedge events or benefit from expected short term moves.
Deribit is currently facing heated competition in the cryptocurrency derivatives space, as the Intercontinental Exchange’s crypto venture Bakkt and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) have launched crypto derivatives as well.
Featured image by Clifford Photography on Unsplash.