If you don’t want to merely buy and sell cryptocurrencies, you may also buy cryptocurrency options. Similar to futures trading, You can rely on growing or decreasing prices with leverage or hedge your portfolio. This article discusses the 5 Best Crypto Options Trading Platforms In 2022.

Many investors don’t like to trade cryptocurrency because it’s an extremely volatile asset. However, if you can time the market right, trading crypto can give you far higher returns than traditional investments.

As the crypto market expands, so does the demand for sophisticated trading tools. Options trading has long been a staple of traditional finance, and it is now making its way to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

What are Crypto Options?

Crypto options are a form of financial derivatives that give you the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell the crypto at a specific price – called the strike price – on a specific expiry date. For buying an option, you pay a premium, which is usually cheaper than buying the cryptocurrency outright.

An “option” is a type of derivative contract that gives its purchaser the right – but not the obligation – to buy or sell an underlying asset at a set price at (or, in some cases, before) an expiration date. The right to buy the underlying asset is known as a “call” option while the right to sell is known as a “put” option.

Unlike buying bitcoin on a cryptocurrency exchange, options allow you to take a speculative position on the future direction of the market price, meaning you speculate on whether the price will go up or down.

However, since cryptocurrency options are relatively new, the market is not as diverse as the options market for traditional instruments. Below we’ll look at five different exchanges that offer crypto options trading.

1. BIT.com

For now, traders can trade options like BTC, ETH, and BCH on Bit.com. Trading volume-wise, Bit.com is one of the leading exchange platforms in the ETH and BTC options market.

Also,  Bit.com has a unique feature known as the Unified Margin (UM) system.  Unified Margin allows traders to use one account without limitations.

Unified Margin is an upgraded trading and risk management system, adopting one single account solution to optimally trade spot, margin, perpetual, futures, and options. All collateral cryptocurrencies in the unified account are shared as USDT denominated margin to improve capital utilization, thus lowering the risk of being liquidated.

The Bit.com trading platform is web-based and accessible from a plethora of web browsers. The platform is big on user experience as one doesn’t need to download any other apps. Therefore, traders are free to access their accounts and trade from any device available within reach.

The platform offers the necessary features and tools, with the most important being the technical analysis tools, advanced trade controls, and Tier 2 market data.

Mobile traders also have everything to smile about as apps for both Android and iOS are available for download. The mobile apps have all the crucial features every trader would need for trading.

Fees on Bit.com are split into seven tiers with Maker fees starting at 0.0200% and taker fees starting at 0.0300%.

2. DERIBIT

Deribit is based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, serving the crypto community with its crypto options products since 2016.

Deribit provides European-style options, meaning such options can only be exercised at the time of expiration date. Also, the settlement happens in cash instead of the underlying asset.

Lastly, as of now, Deribit facilitates options trading of Ethereum and Bitcoin on its platform where these purchase fees are applicable 0.04% of underlying or 0.0004 BTC or ETH per option contract.

3. FTX EXCHANGE

FTX Exchange Derivatives is a digital currency futures and options exchange and clearinghouse regulated by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

FTX Exchange Derivatives is available to both retail and institutional investors and offers physical settlement of all contracts, block trading and algorithmic trading opportunities for institutional investors, and direct access for all traders. Since launching in 2017, FTX US Derivatives has cleared over 10 million options and swaps contracts.

FTX offers trading in only European-style Bitcoin options, which you cannot exercise early. All options are cash-settled in USD on the expiration date. 

The trading fees on the platform are divided into six levels- starting from 0.020- 0.000% as maker fees and 0.070- 0.040% as taker fees. 

4. OKEX 

Designed for more advanced traders, OKeX, now OKX, is one of the leading options trading platforms in the market. Like Bit.com, OKX offers Unified Margin (Unified Account).

While suitable for professional traders, OKX also happens to be user-friendly and has become one of the most ideal crypto options platforms for traders seeking to foray into the world of trading.

OKX currently offers a wide range of assets to trade and its low fees make it one of the most sought-after platforms at the moment.

The highest trading fees payable for low-volume accounts are a 0.15% maker fee and 0.2% taker fee. This drops as low as 0.02% and 0.05% for makers and takers fees respectively.

5. BINANCE

Binance is the leading global cryptocurrency trading platform that offers trading in a wide range of crypto assets. And has the most liquid market for all assets in both the spot and the derivatives marketplace.

It allows you to trade crypto options through its Binance Futures platform, which was launched in 2020. You can take leverage of up to 125X to trade cryptocurrency futures and options contracts.

Binance allows buying and selling of European-style vanilla Bitcoin options, which can only be exercised on the contract expiration date. The option contracts are priced and settled in USDT. 

The options trading fee has two parts- the transaction fee and the fee to exercise. 

• Transaction fee: Index price * Transaction fee rate, i.e., 0.03% of the underlying asset value
• Exercise fee: Exercise price * Fee to exercise rate, i.e., 0.015% of the underlying asset value 

The fee amount will not exceed 10% of the transaction fee, and in the exercise fee, the fee amount will not exceed 10% of the profit gained by exercising the option.

In Conclusion

In addition to improving the market equilibrium by providing arbitrage opportunities, options trading allows users to hedge against risk. They are cost-effective since you do not have to pay an upfront premium while issuing an options contract. Another hidden benefit is that you do not have to exercise the options contract by compulsion. You can choose the option of not exercising the contract. 

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