Analyst James Check and Unchained Produced a Report on Current Bitcoin Market landscape, where the most interesting takeaway is the increase in the Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFS) specifically the success of the Ishares Bitcoin Trust (Ibit) and the option market that now supports the product.
The report opens with a quote that says, “Options are now the dominant derivatives of open interest rates, is over $ 90 billion in size and eclipse futures markets for $ 80 billion.”
Since launching in January 2024, Ibit has seen about $ 61 billion in net flow over 18 months, making it one of the most successful ETFs of all time.
However, the dominance accelerated following the launch of ETF settings in November 2024.
The electoral market, which gives investors the right, but not the obligation to buy or sell an asset at a fixed price within a certain timeframe, has dramatically reshaped streams, with Ibit attracts $ 32.8 billion in influx while competitors have been flat since the options began to act.
The report states that Ibit now controls 57.5% of all Bitcoin ETF assets under management (AUM), up from 49% in October 2024, with approx. 40 cent options with open interest rates for each dollar bitcoin held in the fund. In contrast, Fidelity’s FBTC, the second largest ETF, is about 25 times less than Ibit in the options open interest rates with about $ 1.3 billion.
This level of activity has made Ibit a rival to be abolished, the world’s largest crypto option exchange, where daily trading volumes typically run between $ 4 billion and $ 5 billion, according to the report.
The report also points to 13F archives, the quarterly information required by SEC for investment managers with over $ 100 million in assets. These archives show institutions that hold ETFs, allowing others to use the market for the options to be able to short or use arbitrage methods for cover volatile.
In general, the report concludes that Bitcoin’s volatility profile has changed meaningfully in this cycle, with ETFs and their opportunity markets that serve as an important driving force for this change.
“In our opinion, the launch of settings on top of the SPOT-ETFs has so far one under discussed but very important change in Bitcoin’s recent market structure,” the report said.
