Bybit Adds Fiat Support in Prolific Month for Derivatives Market

Bybit Adds Fiat Support in Prolific Month for Derivatives Market

Table of Contents

  • The crypto derivatives market is in rude health, with a record-breaking number of options trades placed in the last quarter.
  • Now, retail traders have been given a new option when it comes to depositing funds after Bybit added a fiat gateway.

The crypto derivatives market is in rude health, with a record-breaking number of options trades placed in the last quarter. Now, retail traders have been given a new option when it comes to depositing funds after Bybit added a fiat gateway. The Singapore-headquartered derivatives exchange joins the likes of Binance in enabling fiat deposits, allowing traders to enter the market more quickly than before.

Bybit’s introduction of fiat support means that BTC and ETH can be purchased directly on the exchange using credit or debit card or bank transfer. Binance, meanwhile, has been steadily expanding the number of countries where its fiat gateway is available – the number now extends to over 180. Derivatives exchanges have traditionally lacked fiat support, obliging traders to deposit funds in BTC or, more recently, USDT. This incurs latency, compelling traders to wait for funds to clear on-chain, and preventing them from capitalizing on sudden price moves.

“Thanks to our payment partners Banxa and Xanpool, Bybit users can now frictionlessly purchase crypto with credit or debit card at some of the most competitive rates on the market,” said Bybit CEO Ben Zhou, describing the fiat integration as a “major milestone” in the exchange’s roadmap.

Derivatives Market on Course for Another Strong Month

June is shaping up to be another record month for the crypto derivatives market, which saw growth that outpaced the spot market during May. Futures volume now exceeds that of spot by a ratio of 5:1. While established derivatives exchanges such as Bybit and Deribit have focused on the most liquid crypto assets, such as BTC and ETH, others have experimented with smaller cap coins. This includes FTX.com, which has revealed that it is to make defi token COMP tradable with leverage.

The majority of the futures market still centers around bitcoin, however, accounting for 90% of Bybit’s volume. The second most popular futures market is for ethereum, which saw robust trading in May on derivatives exchanges, prompting open interest on ETH to hit a record high. The forthcoming upgrade of the Ethereum network to ETH 2.0, coupled with growth of the $1.3 billion defi sector it supports, has driven strong trading volumes for ETH and ERC20 assets. Five of the top performing crypto assets for the month to date have been defi tokens, according to data from ICO Analytics. This includes Compound’s COMP token, which surged 250% on news of Coinbase Pro listing, and Jarvis Reward Token (JRT).

While the defi sector continues to attract major investment from VCs, and attention from speculators, institutional derivatives traders are fixed on bitcoin. 100,000 BTC options are due to expire at the end of June; whether these are longs are longs or shorts is unknown. The options have been placed on institutional platforms Bakkt, LedgerX, and CME, as well as on Deribit and Okex. As a result, traders are bracing themselves for major moves as positions are readjusted and rolled over.

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