Options Market Insights
The latest data shows that BTC implied volatility (IV) remains around 51%, while ETH IV stays at a relatively elevated level of 75%. In traditional assets, the gold volatility index is around 28%, and the crude oil volatility index is about 95%. In terms of percentile levels, BTC and ETH IV have slightly declined but still remain above the 80th percentile, indicating historically elevated levels. Meanwhile, the volatility indices for gold and crude oil have retreated from previous highs by roughly 40% and 30%, respectively. This suggests that the options market’s expectations for extreme volatility driven by macroeconomic and geopolitical risks have moderated, although overall pricing still remains relatively high compared with historical levels.
Over the past two weeks, BTC 25D Skew first moved higher, then dropped sharply before gradually recovering. In early March, demand for call options strengthened, pushing skew higher. However, around March 8–9, skew fell rapidly to a local low, reflecting rising risk-off sentiment and increased demand for downside protection through put options. Recently, skew has stabilized after rebounding, but it remains in a slightly negative range, indicating that demand for downside hedging still slightly outweighs bullish positioning.
From the GEX (Gamma Exposure) term structure, Gamma is mainly concentrated in the March 27 expiry, with a peak around 7 million, suggesting strong short-term hedging demand that may exert a stabilizing effect on prices. Meanwhile, negative Gamma appears around the April 3 expiry, implying that if prices approach key strike levels, market volatility could be amplified.
Block Trade Structure
In the past 24 hours, the largest block trades in the BTC and ETH options markets are as follows:
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BTC: Buy BTC-24APR26-50000-P, with a total volume of about 1,000 BTC, and a net premium outflow of approximately $330,000.
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ETH: Buy ETH-24APR26-2300-C and ETH-24APR26-2300-P (Straddle), with a total volume of about 2,625 ETH, and a net premium outflow of approximately $1.15 million.
Options combination strategies can be executed using the Strategy Order tool available on the Gate platform.
Gate has officially launched Gold and Crude Oil Options, marking a new era of multi-asset options trading. Building on support for 11 crypto asset options, the platform has introduced traditional asset underlyings for the first time, offering users more opportunities for cross-market volatility trading. The symbol for Gold options is XAUT, and for Crude Oil options is XTI. Amid rising global macro volatility, gold and oil — as core Commodity Assets — provide traders with new tools for volatility trading and risk management.
Options trading portal: https://www.gate.com/options/BTC_USDT
