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Event File CRYPTO Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs)

Spot Bitcoin ETF Options Begin to Drive Market Volatility

1 reports · First detected 2026-02-26 · Last active 2026-02-26

After U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs launched in January 2024, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) quickly attracted tens of billions of dollars. The debut of IBIT options trading that November shifted hedging and price discovery from offshore crypto derivatives venues to the U.S. equity options market, changing how volatility is transmitted through Bitcoin markets.

Lionsoul Global Chief Investment Officer Gregory Mall said on February 25, 2026, that open interest in IBIT options had reached billions of dollars and was closing in on Deribit’s volume on some trading days. During Bitcoin’s sharp decline in early February, the near-term CME basis widened from about 3% to nearly 9%. Prices rebounded on February 6, suggesting market makers’ short-gamma hedging may have amplified both the selloff and the reversal.

All Coverage

1 original reports
COINDESK.COM 2026-02-26
Crypto Long & Short: When ETF options start driving bitcoin

The Backstory

The history behind this event
Spot Bitcoin ETFs Reshape Market, Putting Bitcoin Ahead of Fed Policy Signals2026-04-06 · 1 reports · similarity 0.84

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved spot Bitcoin ETFs in January 2024, allowing institutions to gain Bitcoin exposure through regulated investment vehicles. The new channel has increased institutional capital's influence on pricing. Instead of retail investors reacting to interest-rate news, professional investors now price in policy moves by the Federal Reserve and other global central banks ahead of time, reshaping Bitcoin's relationship with macro liquidity.

Binance Research said in April 2026 that, since spot ETFs launched in 2024, Bitcoin's correlation with a global monetary-easing breadth index covering 41 central banks had shifted from slightly positive to strongly negative. The inverse relationship is nearly three times as strong as before. Bitcoin may be pricing in central-bank pivots months in advance; the report did not disclose specific ETF inflow figures.

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