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Block Scholes x Bybit Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade and the market’s cautious reaction

Ethereum’s persistent underperformance relative to both BTC and competitor smart contract–enabled blockchains highlights the urgency behind the Pectra upgrade, which seeks to enhance network scalability, staking efficiency and user experience. Technical improvements in the form of Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), such as validator consolidation (EIP-7251) and streamlined withdrawal mechanisms (EIP-7002), address current structural inefficiencies, potentially attracting more staking participation, while adjustments to blob space (EIP-7691) further the incentives for increased Layer 2 adoption initiated by March 2024’s Dencun upgrade.

March 28, 2025

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One Last Inversion For March?

The week began with a relief rally but the risk-on appetite has proven to be short-lived. SPX and NDX extended their losses into a third consecutive day following Trump's auto tariffs and and the major 4 crypto assets have all fallen 3-6% on the day so far. BTC's term structure of volatility briefly inverted whilst ETH's term structure is currently flat. Separately, Intercontinental Exchange Inc. is partnering with Circle to explore the integration of the USDC stablecoin into ICE’s derivatives exchanges and clearinghouses.

The Stablecoin Rush

Fidelity Investments and the State of Wyoming join Trump-backed World Liberty Financial in the race towards stablecoin issuance whilst GameStop Corp. announce plans to raise $1.3B via 0% Convertible Senior Notes in order to acquire Bitcoin. Risk-on assets fell once again after a brief reprieve earlier in the week and President Trump has announced a 25% tariff on all auto imports, beginning April 2.

BTC, GME and WLF

BTC is trading close to its two-week high, though the move up in spot hasn't quite been matched by the same bullish momentum in derivatives markets. BTC's funding rate is close to 0% and both the term structure of volatility for BTC and ETH has continued to steepen as front-end expectations decline. In DeFi, World Liberty Financial has announced plans to launch its own dollar-backed stablecoin and Cboe has filed on behalf of Fidelity for a Solana ETF.

Another Relief Rally?

Crypto and equities started the week with a rally, after a one-month long stretch of losses amidst signs that President Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs may be narrower in focus than expected. BTC has benefitted from the boost in risk-sentiment, breaking past $88K briefly. While not turning strongly bullish, sentiment in derivatives markets has at least pulled away from the persistently bearish tilt it’s held over the last few weeks with futures yields rising particularly at short tenors and funding rates flipping positive.

The Recovery Continues

The modest recovery of the crypto market continues as BTC currently trades at $87K amidst signs that President Trump's reciprocal tariff program may be more targeted and focused than previously expected. Front-end volatility for both BTC and ETH is close to their lowest levels of the month and BTC’s volatility smile looks to be shifting towards calls. ETH’s front-end skew levels have also ticked up, indicating some renewed demand for out-the-money call options relative to OTM puts.

DeFi Analytics 21st March 2025

This week's edition of our Crypto DeFi Analytics. The trend of Solana’s daily fee generation outperforming Ethereum’s has re-emerged, while ETH’s hourly average gas fees burned per block remain minimal with no noticeable spikes in demand.

Block Scholes x Bybit Crypto Derivatives March 21 2025

The broad-based decline in global asset prices was arrested this week, with crypto assets continuing their high correlation to US equities during a recovery. BTC is trading higher, above $85K, while ETH has recovered a key psychological level at $2K. Despite this, activity in derivatives markets has remained low. Funding rates for major tokens BTC, ETH and SOL have been consistently negative over this period. However, the demand for short-dated options, which was particularly strong in protection against further downside moves, has fallen alongside an end to the high level of realized volatility that has dominated markets over the past month.

“Ending the last administration’s regulatory war on crypto”

President Trump’s two-minute video presentation at the Blockworks Digital Assets Summit disappointed market participants, with BTC falling from $86K down to $83K. With that move in spot, BTC’s term structure of volatility has steepened and at-the-money implied volatility for 7-day tenors is currently at its lowest since late February. Short-dated optionality once again expresses appetite for downside protection with volatility smiles for tenors less than 30 days tilted towards OTM puts. Separately, Pump.fun, a memecoin launchpad protocol, has launched its own decentralised exchange, PumpSwap, on Solana.

"Transitory Inflation"

The Federal Reserve, as expected, left the federal funds rate unchanged at 4.25%-4.50%. The FOMC's revised SEP shows higher inflation at the end of 2025 and lower GDP growth from 2.1% to 1.7%. Chair Powell also expressed the FOMC's "base case" for tariff-induced inflation as "transitory" and announced a slowdown in the pace of quantitative tightening. Markets took the dovish delivery positively with BTC volatility smiles skewing towards calls at all tenors at BTC spot price rallied through $87K.

Rates Hold, Inflation Pressures

The Bank of Japan has kept interest rates unchanged and the Fed is expected to follow suit—but uncertainty looms amid inflationary pressures and global trade risks. Institutional crypto adoption gains momentum as CME Group launches SOL futures. Meanwhile, MicroStrategy (MSTR) is offering 5 million shares of its 10% Series A Perpetual Strife Preferred stock to the public.

Sideways Lull

BTC appears to be in a sideways lull since Friday around 20% below its all-time high, as the wider crypto market consolidates without a lack of new news to drive price action. That muted sentiment is reflected in derivatives markets too – while both BTC and ETH’s volatility term structures have re-inverted, they remain considerably compressed since last week’s highs. Additionally, although they are no longer trading below spot price, short-dated futures currently do not trade close to the spread above spot that they did during the run to $109K in January.

DeFi Analytics 14th March 2025

This week's edition of our Crypto DeFi Analytics. Ethereum and Solana's daily fee generation are now more comparable, and overall down from last week. Aave liquidations surged on March 11, as ETH spot hit a new 2025 low.

Volatility Review February 2025

While crypto volatility in February 2025 was bookended by two incredibly choppy periods, the middle of the month saw BTC trade with a realized volatility level of just 29%. This level has marked the floor of BTC’s realized volatility over the past 18 months, with reversions to the mean occurring shortly after. Despite a significant drop-off in volatility expectations when the market digested the details of US president Donald Trump’s plan for a strategic crypto-asset stockpile, volatility expectations have once again rallied for short-dated options. This has resulted in a return to the inverted term structure of volatility that BTC and ETH options had traded with at the end of February.

Crypto Markets Daily Mar 14 2025

The increasing worries surrounding an ever-evolving program of tariffs by President Trump continues to weigh on risk-on sentiment for US equities. The latest episode involves a potential 200% tariff on EU wine and alcohol products. The S&P 500 has officially joined the NDX in entering a technical correction, though crypto-assets on the other hand have slowly moved up through yesterday evening into today.

Crypto Markets Daily Mar 13 2025

US equities felt some reprieve yesterday with a softer-than-expected CPI print which also saw BTC slowly move upwards to $84K. Its term structure of implied volatility has compressed almost into a flat structure, however ETH’s term structure of volatility is still inverted. Skew levels for ETH at all tenors excluding the 7-day have lost some of their bias towards puts as its spot price continues to trade sideways since the beginning of the week, though only the 180-day tenor option assigns a call-premium. Canada announced some further "dollar for dollar" retaliatory tariffs.

Crypto Markets Daily Mar 12 2025

President Trump walks back yet another tariff threat, this time on raising steel and aluminium levies on Canada to 50%. Additionally, the President has downplayed recession risks stating the US economy is "going to boom", with yesterday's JOLTS report adding some aid to that narrative. BTC is currently experiencing a relief rally, though derivatives markets remain less bullish -- volatility smile skews are still towards puts for all tenors below three months, futures prices trade below spot for the first time since the November election, and perpetual swap funding rates have turned negative.

Crypto Markets Daily Mar 11 2025

The three-week long US equities sell-off deepened even further yesterday with the S&P 500 posting its largest single-day loss since December 2024 and the Nasdaq-100 entering a correction zone. That widespread de-risking saw BTC fall to $78K, whilst treasuries rallied. BTC and ETH’s term structures remain inverted, with skew for all tenors below 90 days significantly put-skewed.

DeFi Analytics 7th March 2025

This week's edition of our Crypto DeFi Analytics. Ethereum and Solana's daily fee generation remains low. Arbitrum's hourly volume spiked to nearly $450M after Trump's bullish post about a potential US crypto reserve triggered a market rally.

Block Scholes x Bybit Crypto Derivatives March 5th 2025

Crypto price action continues to be driven by US President Trump’s policies. Several SEC cases against crypto-native firms have been dropped over the past month, positive news for the industry that was followed up by Trump’s weekend announcement of the inclusion of BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL and ADA in a US strategic reserve.

Crypto Markets Daily Mar 7 2025

The much anticipated Strategic Bitcoin Reserve was formally signed in an Executive Order by President Trump, though the overall market reaction has been one of disappointment, with BTC falling over 5% on the news, before paring some losses back. Derivatives markets reflect that disappoint too. Implied volatility at the front-end for BTC has dropped sharply by over 10 points and BTC perpetual futures funding rates have also dropped negative.

Crypto Markets Daily Mar 6 2025

BTC continues its recovery amidst a wider breath of relief from risk-on assets as Trump exempts automakers from his recent tariffs for one month. The term structure of volatility for both BTC and ETH is still inverted, though skew for short tenor BTC options is now positioned closer to neutral. Euro-area bond yields have rallied significantly amidst increased EU fiscal spending.

Crypto Markets Daily Mar 5 2025

BTC rebounded from $82K to $89K (+6%), coinciding with a 0.88% rise in SPX futures post-close, after Commerce Secretary Lutnick suggested Trump may reconsider tariffs on Canada & Mexico. Markets fell sharply - SPX dropped 1% to its lowest post-election level, while 2-year Treasury yields declined 11bps. Fed rate cut expectations have risen, with three cuts now priced in for 2025.

Crypto Markets Daily Mar 4 2025

President Trump's 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico and doubled levies on China weighed heavily on risk-on sentiment across the board, with BTC down 9% on the day. ETH has completely erased its Sunday gains following the Strategic Reserve announcement and both majors' currently have an even steeper implied volatility term structure. ISM Manufacturing data disappointed and the Atlanta Fed's GDPNow forecast has fallen even lower.

Crypto Markets Daily Mar 3 2025

President Trump's announcement for a Strategic Crypto Reserve containing BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL and ADA has partly reversed the price slump of February. BTC and ETH's implied volatility term structures once again inverted and BTC's short-tenor options are skewed towards puts. The Atlanta Fed's GDPNow model currently predicts a 1.5% annualised decline in GDP growth for Q1 2025.

DeFi Analytics 28th February 2025

This week's edition of our Crypto DeFi Analytics. Ethereum and Solana saw their lowest daily fee generations this month and aggregate liquidations across Aave & Compound remain surprisingly low.

Block Scholes x Bybit Crypto Derivatives February 28th 2025

Macro headwinds are once again in the driver’s seat for crypto, as a sell-off that began over the weekend has deepened throughout the early part of this week. Following a period of dismal sideways price action, BTC, ETH and almost all altcoins have followed the lower trajectory of equities, gold and treasury yields. Derivatives markets, however, only began to show signs of significant bearish sentiment and a material increase in volatility expectations on Wednesday afternoon as the selloff deepened.

Crypto Markets Daily Feb 28 2025

Bitcoin's selloff intensified during the opening of Asian equity trading hours, reaching an intra-day low of $78.5K. The deepened correction has resulted in BTC and ETH's implied volatility term structures to invert more significantly, with BTC 7-day tenor ATM volatility almost matching levels during the early February inversion. President Trump gave the greenlight for Mexico, Canada and China tariffs from March 4. Separately, there are multiple new developments in DeFi.

Crypto Markets Daily Feb 27 2025

BTC and ETH's implied volatility term structures have once again inverted as front-end vol lagged a limp rebound in spot prices during early Asian trading hours. Spot Bitcoin ETFs continue their onslaught of selling, recording the highest single day of outflows earlier in the week. President Trump further added to market uncertainty yesterday as he gave mixed messages regarding his tariff implementations on Mexico and Canada.

Crypto Markets Daily Feb 26 2025

The Conference Board's recent survey showed consumer confidence in February saw the largest single-month fall since August 2021. The 10Y US yield dropped to its lowest level year-to-date following the release and markets are now fully pricing in two rate cuts over the course of 2025. ETH's implied volatility term structure has flattened from its inversion yesterday and is currently up 4% today. The SEC has officially acknowledged Greyscale's Cardano (ADA) ETF filing.

Crypto Markets Daily Feb 25 2025

BTC and the wider crypto market has been steadily falling driven by a confluence of factors. That fall was amplified further by President Trump confirming his tariffs on Mexico and Canada “are going forward, on time”. ETH is down 10% on the day and its volatility term structure has notably inverted.

Bybit ETH Hack

Bybit was hacked for $1.46 billion in Ethereum and staking derivatives, allegedly by the Lazarus Group. The attack involved a phishing-style manipulation of a routine multisig cold wallet transaction rather than a flaw in the Ethereum network itself. While some stolen funds were swapped into Bitcoin and Tether froze 181K USDT, the market impact on ETH was minimal given the asset’s large trading volume.

Block Scholes x Bybit Crypto Derivatives February 21st 2025

Driven by fewer macroeconomic releases than in the first month of 2025, crypto’s lower-volatility environment has resulted in a sideways slog in spot prices. This has in turn had the expected impact on derivatives markets: lower implied volatility pricing, a steepening term structure and nearly unchanged levels of open interest across all instruments. ETH options markets, however, continue to price in a continuation of its more volatile spot price moves. As we’ve seen in previous instances, this sideways spot price movement includes an underperformance in altcoins, expressed most obviously in derivatives markets as a disappointing funding rate.

DeFi Analytics 21st February 2025

This week's edition of our Crypto DeFi Analytics. Feb 17th saw Ethereum's fee generation outperform Solana's for the day with gas fees burnt per block spiking. Liquidations across Aave and Compound spike on the same date, coinciding with the brief ETH spot rally.

Crypto Markets Daily Feb 21 2025

At-the-money volatility for BTC and ETH continue to drop across all tenors, with ETH 7-day tenor options maintaining a 50% volatility premium. Core inflation in Japan rose to its highest since June 2023, increasing the expectation for a BOJ rate hike, and growth in Europe remains sluggish. There are multiple new developments in DeFi including Franklin Templeton's new Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF.

Crypto Markets Daily Feb 20 2025

BTC and ETH both move sideways at +0.7% and +1.5% (24hrs) respectively. Derivatives markets reflect this, with ETH’s volatility term structure flattening after a mild inversion, while BTC’s remains steep.

Crypto Markets Daily Feb 19 2025

BTC and ETH both move sideways at +0.7% and +1.5% (24hrs) respectively. Derivatives markets reflect this, with ETH’s volatility term structure flattening after a mild inversion, while BTC’s remains steep.

Crypto Markets Daily Feb 18 2025

SOL is down 8% on the day, coinciding with the 90% drawdown in the Solana based LIBRA memecoin token. ETH on the other hand, rallied 8% yesterday before paring its gains back, resulting in an inverted at-the-money implied volatility term structure.

Crypto Markets Daily Feb 17 2025

Binance Smart Chain is making a comeback, with Pancake Swap processing $1T in cumulative trading volume. Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company purchased $436.9M of BlackRock's IBIT ETF in Q4 2024 and GameStop is also considering purchasing Bitcoin with its $4.6B cash reserve. The President of Argentina is facing impeachment threats following his endorsement for the LIBRA token which has lost 90% of its market-cap.

DeFi Analytics 14th February 2025

This week's edition of our Crypto DeFi Analytics. Solana' continues to outperform Ethereum in fee generation. Hourly Average Cost to Transfer ETH (21,000 Gas) drops to the lowest levels seen this month and liquidations across Aave and Compound are negligible.

Volatility Review January 2025

Since the start of the year, BTC and ETH weekend activity has been notably reactive, with recent sell-offs driven by macroeconomic factors such as Trump’s tariff policies, speculation about a strategic Bitcoin reserve, and competition from AI-driven disruptors like DeepSeek. Notably, BTC and ETH have acted as leading indicators for broader market movements, reacting more swiftly and sharply to economic and geopolitical developments than traditional equities.

Crypto Markets Daily Feb 14 2025

Headline PPI in the US came in above expected, with the final demand year-over-year figure increasing to 3.5% in January. President Trump has announced his 'Fair and Reciprocal' tariff plan designed to introduce a round of bilateral reciprocal tariffs with US trade partners. In DeFi news, Trump backed World Liberty Financial continues its large-scale crypto purchases, and the Ethereum Foundation has made additional moves to bolster its on-chain DeFi activity.

Crypto Markets Daily Feb 13 2025

US CPI exceeded economist expectations on all counts, with the YoY headline figure rising to 3.0%, against the expected 2.9% and core YoY prices increasing to 3.3%, above the expected 3.1%. Chair Powell reiterated the Fed's intention to keep rates restrictive following the CPI release. BTC initially dropped on the news, though pared back the losses through the day.

Crypto Markets Daily Feb 12 2025

MicroStrategy resumes its Bitcoin buying, announcing its purchase of 7,633 bitcoins after a two week break. ADA has outperformed the top 10 altcoins by market-cap, bolstered on by Grayscale's ADA ETF filing. BTC and ETH skew levels have returned back to a positive territory.

Crypto Markets Daily Feb 11 2025

MicroStrategy resumes its Bitcoin buying, announcing its purchase of 7,633 bitcoins after a two week break. ADA has outperformed the top 10 altcoins by market-cap, bolstered on by Grayscale's ADA ETF filing. BTC and ETH skew levels have returned back to a positive territory.

Bybit x Block Scholes: The Altcoin Rotation: Why and When Altcoins Outperform Bitcoin

The elusive "altseason" phenomenon—when altcoins historically outshine Bitcoin in market cycles is one of the most anticipated moments in all historical crypto cycles. Unlike past booms, 2024 has bucked the trend, with BTC holding strong while altcoins struggle to steal the spotlight. Ethereum’s underperformance, institutional dominance via ETFs, and a pre-halving all-time-high rally may have disrupted the usual capital rotation. Yet, increasing stablecoin supply, supply-demand factors and memecoin speculation hint that a belated altseason-like frenzy could still be ignited — if the right spark catches fire.

Crypto Markets Daily Feb 10 2025

China confirmed its retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports including 15% levies on liquid natural gas and coal. President Trump announced some more tariffs of his own too, which coincided with a temporarily pullback in BTC's spot price. CPI in China rose more than expected, though seasonal factors likely skewed the data.

DeFi Analytics 7th February 2025

This week's edition of our Crypto DeFi Analytics. A bittersweet week for Ethereum: network demand surges, surpassing Solana in fees, but ETH spot crashes 25%. Uniswap V3 hits a 2025 high in transaction count, while over $15M in positions are liquidated across Aave and Compound.

Block Scholes x Bybit Crypto Derivatives February 7th 2025

Another week, another Monday crypto risk-off event that continues its recent correlation to equities. However, despite last week’s sell-off, BTC outperformed relative to the wider crypto market, experiencing a far less steep sell-off, as reflected in its derivatives markets positioning. Options markets priced short-tenor volatility higher before the inversion of the term structure resolved remarkably quickly. ETH, in contrast, saw a much sharper inversion as short-tenor options spiked significantly higher alongside realized volatility. Perpetual swap contracts lost much of their open interest in a liquidation event that some, including Bybit CEO Ben Zhou, estimated were likely as high as $10B. The sudden bearishness was reflected in funding rate data, with altcoins seeing a more persistent and negative funding rate in the days since the crash than BTC did.

Crypto Markets Daily Feb 07 2025

Labour productivity in the U.S. ticked up at an annual rate of 2.3% between 2023 and 2024 as Dallas Fed President suggests the FOMC may need to hold interest rates at their current level for "quite some time". President Trump's Media Group announces plans to launch its Bitcoin Plus ETF. Bitcoin's implied vol term structure continues to steepen.

Crypto Markets Daily Feb 06 2025

BlackRock announces plans for a Bitcoin ETP in Europe and Commissioner Hester Pierce announced her key goals for the Crypto Task Force. Institutions are buying the ETH dip with the third-largest single-day spot ETF inflows since launch and ETH's implied vol term structure disinverts.

Crypto Markets Daily Feb 05 2025

The JOLTS report showed a U.S. economy still in a stable, low-hiring, low-firing state with quits and layoff rates holding steady. Bitcoin continues to range between $96K and $100K as Crypto Czar provides update on a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. ETH's term structure remains significantly inverted compared to Bitcoin's much flatter shape.

Crypto Markets Daily Feb 04 2025

President Trump announced a 30 day pause on his tariff program against Canada and Mexico which brought a well needed relief rally in cryptocurrencies. That didn't last long as China announced its own retaliatory measures against the U.S. ETH's implied vol term structure remains inverted, compared to BTC's flatter term structure. The $2B liquidation event of yesterday hasn't stopped ETH Spot ETF inflows however. Uniswap launches v4.

Crypto Markets Daily Feb 03 2025

President Trump's long awaited tariff program has caused a knee-jerk reaction in crypto markets which have led the risk-off move. BTC temporarily crashed to $91K with both BTC and ETH's term structures inverting. ETH perp funding rates have dropped to -0.07%, and a basket of the Trump Trade altcoins have posted double digit losses.

DeFi Analytics 31st January 2025

This week's edition of our Crypto DeFi Analytics. Solana continues to cement its year-to-date dominance in fee generation compared to Ethereum with a notable divergence. Ethereum's blob gas usage remains stable and Uniswap V3 sets a new January high for transaction count.

Crypto Markets Daily Jan 31 2025

The U.S. grew by less than expected in Q4, but still recorded a robust figure that pushed 2024 yearly growth to 2.8%. President Trump once again threatened 100% tariffs on BRICS nations if they attempt to create a BRICS currency or replace the U.S. dollar. Crypto Spot ETFs are back to positive inflows, ending a disappointing week. Apollo Global Management announced a partnership with Securitize to tokenise shares of its Apollo Diversified Credit Fund on various blockchain networks. Rollman Management Digital, a private investment firm, has invested $20M into Elastos.

Block Scholes x Bybit Crypto Derivatives January 31st 2025

Markets experienced a significant risk-off event at the beginning of this week, as DeepSeek’s LLM announcement coincided with sharp declines in major indices and across crypto markets, despite a direct and obvious impact on the value of the crypto-asset market. Although spot markets saw a volatile selloff, open interest in perpetual swaps has remained stable, with funding rates briefly flipping negative before partially recovering. Options markets saw a surge in trading volume amid the selloff, but forward-looking volatility expectations declined. However, positioning over a longer horizon remains the same — longer dated options positions indicate a bullish sentiment.

Crypto Markets Daily Jan 30 2025

The FOMC voted unanimously to leave the FFR unchanged at 4.25-4.5% and Chair Powell highlighted that following 100bps of rate cuts since September 2024, Fed policymakers do not "need to be in a hurry to adjust" the policy stance. BTC initially fell following the press release, then rallied at Powell took to the podium. The Bank of Canada continued its 6th consecutive rate cut, citing "major uncertainty" regarding tariffs.

Crypto Markets Daily Jan 29 2025

BTC’s rangebound movements is accompanied by slower activity in derivatives markets. Implied vol is sideways and the term structure is flat. The recent shakeout has not affected long-tenor vol smiles however, which still indicate a preference for OTM calls. Czech's Central Bank Governor announces plans to add Bitcoin to the nation's official reserves and Metaplanet has plans of its for its corporate Bitcoin treasury.

Crypto Markets Daily Jan 28 2025

The DXY rallied on the back of President Trump's plans to tariff steel, copper, pharmaceuticals, and foreign computer chips. Nvidia fell 17% yesterday amidst a wider equities decline, but BTC has recovered above the $100K mark. Short-tenor vol smiles are put skewed and spot ETFs saw their biggest outflows since January 8, 2025. The FOMC voting committee welcomes some new members ahead of its meeting tomorrow.

Crypto Markets Daily Jan 27 2025

BTC fell to $97K amidst a wider Trad-Fi decline. Skew levels have now dropped towards OTM puts for short-tenors with funding rate close to 0%. China's DeepSeek LLM is causing concerns about U.S. tech stock valuations. Looking ahead, the Fed and the ECB are meeting through the week amongst a slew of macro data including U.S. GDP and PCE inflation.

DeFi Analytics 24th January 2025

This week's edition of our Crypto DeFi Analytics. Trump's inauguration week made it's mark on DeFi metrics. With the official launch of $TRUMP and $MELANIA, exclusively on the Solana network, Solana saw a spike of approximately $31M fees generated in one day. Ethereum saw a similar increase in network demand on Jan 19, reflected by a spike of gas fees pricing. Uniswap v3 paints a similar picture of increased transaction count and blob gas usage remains steady around 400k.

Block Scholes x Bybit Crypto Derivatives January 24th 2025

Trump’s inauguration on Jan 20, 2025 was preceded by the launch of two Trump family meme coins, TRUMP and MELANIA, which quickly amassed billions of dollars in market capitalization. However, the rumors that a strategic Bitcoin reserve would be among the flurry of executive orders signed by Trump on day one of his administration are what saw derivatives markets positioning shift strongly toward a bullish outcome — inverting the term structure of volatility, raising funding rates levied on long positions and tilting short-tenor volatility smiles toward calls. When that bullish outcome wasn’t delivered, implied volatility levels fell, despite a pickup in realized volatility. However, the bullish skew toward OTM calls remained.

DeFi Analytics 10th January 2025

This week's edition of our Crypto DeFi Analytics. Ethereum network activity surged early in January, with gas fees spiking before stabilizing at lower levels, while blob gas usage remained steady around 400k. Excess blob gas saw a sharp drawdown this week but quickly rebounded, reflecting sustained activity on the network. Uniswap V3 continues to sustain trading activity amid a volatile market.

Block Scholes x Bybit Crypto Derivatives January 10th 2025

Bitcoin's brief climb above $100K to start the year quickly faltered as economic data cast doubt on sustained U.S. interest rate cuts, fueling inflation concerns and weighing on risk assets. Derivatives sentiment failed to support the 100k move and realized volatility collapsed amid lower trade volumes, even as open interest levels held steady. Despite the steep volatility term structure, shorter-term implied volatility is still trading at a significantly higher level than the level of realized volatility. End of December 2024 marks the largest premium of forward-looking volatility since the U.S. elections, despite no clear event risk.

Volatility Review December 2024

Despite the largest single-day expiration events on Dec 27, 2024, the volatility of BTC, ETH and SOL spot prices has been decreasing, rather than spiking, defying expectations of a volatile event driven by a delta-hedging unwind. In our December review, we cover why this was the case, highlighting that only $65.53M of the $350M BTC options expired in-the-money (ITM), including calls with strikes far above the spot price and puts below it.

DeFi Analytics 3rd January 2025

This week's edition of our Crypto DeFi Analytics. Ethereum gas fees spiked to $5 as demand rebounded post-holidays. Excess blob gas dipped slightly but recovered to 55M as Layer 2 activity resumed. Uniswap V3 also saw a holiday trading slowdown, now stabilising.

Block Scholes x Bybit Crypto Derivatives January 3rd 2025

Far from the explosion in volatility expected by some commentators, December’s end-of-year options expiration event has resulted in a collapse in realized volatility levels back to the bottom of their December range. Perpetual swap open interest levels remained consistent throughout the event, suggesting that perp markets weren’t used to hedge a significant proportion of the delta of the expired options contrasts, perhaps explaining the lack of volatility that materialized as they expired.

DeFi Analytics 20th December 2024

This week's edition of our Crypto DeFi Analytics. We highlight the stabilisation of gas fees on Ethereum's network with no significant spikes in demand. Meanwhile, blob gas usage remains elevated at 400k, revealing ongoing and sustained Layer 2 demand for data uploads. An insight into DeFi activity is marked by Uniswap V3 transaction volume on Arbitrum and liquidation activities across Aave and Compound.

Block Scholes x Bybit Crypto Derivatives December 18th

BTC’s spot price has recorded yet another all-time high, but unlike previous records this quarter, derivatives markets haven’t reflected the same leveraged bullish positioning. This is likely a result of the reset in leverage earlier last week, which has seen funding rates return to “normal” levels across the board, a letup in the growth of futures yields and a slightly less exuberant skew toward calls in options.

DeFi Analytics 13th December 2024

This week's edition of our Crypto DeFi Analytics. We highlight Ethereum's increased network demand and the change in hourly average gas fees burnt per block and excess blob gas fees associated with this. An insight into DeFi activity is marked by Uniswap V3 transaction volume on Arbitrum and liquidation activities across Aave and Compound.

Block Scholes x Bybit Crypto Derivatives December 12th

BTC and ETH’s oscillating spot levels over the last week below psychological price targets have left their mark on derivatives markets. A pullback in spot price was exacerbated by a spate of liquidations of over-leveraged long positions in perpetual swaps markets. The aftermath sees a fall in open interest in the instruments, particularly in ETH markets, and a reset of previously overheated funding rates to much lower (but still positive) levels across the board.

DeFi Analytics 6th December 2024

This week's edition of our Crypto DeFi Analytics. We highlight Ethereum's surging network activity: burnt gas fees neared 2 ETH per block alongside transfer costs peaking at $10 amid a growing ETH spot price. Excess blob gas remained elevated, exceeding 70M- a factor of consideration for Layer 2s. An insight into DeFi activity is marked by Uniswap V3 transaction volume on Arbitrum and liquidation activities across Aave and Compound.

Block Scholes x Bybit Crypto Derivatives December 5th

Following several repeated attempts, BTC has finally breached its $100K price target. The effect on derivatives markets is a clear increase in bullish positioning on top of the resilient positive sentiment that we had commented on in the build-up to the move. Perpetual swaps and futures markets reflect a persistent desire for further upside exposure. Short-tenor implied volatility, which has repeatedly inverted the term structure in tandem with spot price rallies, has risen once again as traders rush for exposure to the rally through options.

Volatility Review November 2024

November’s turbulent spot price movements had a pronounced impact on derivatives markets, highlighting notable trends in crypto volatility. The term structure of at-the-money implied volatility became a focal point in the weeks leading up to the election on November 5, 2024, as short-term implied volatility surged to levels approximately 25 percentage points higher than post-election expirations. This spike, coupled with bullish positioning observed in perpetual swaps and futures markets, underscored a strong demand for optionality at expirations near the election date, reflecting traders’ singular focus on the event's outcome. In the two weeks following the election, the term structure continued to oscillate between inversion and steepness, signaling a highly responsive market that rapidly adjusted to shifting sentiment and evolving conditions.

Bybit x Block Scholes: A Journey of Growth and Milestones Toward Becoming the No. 2 Crypto Exchange

As Bybit celebrates its sixth anniversary, it stands as a powerhouse in the crypto exchange landscape, commanding a 12.21% market share and surpassing 50 million users in 2024. With daily spot trading volumes exceeding $10 billion and perpetual swaps also dominating, Bybit’s journey reflects both its growth and the evolving dynamics of crypto markets. We explore Bybit's growth story to discover trends in BTC and altcoin trading, patterns in weekly liquidity and volatility, how institutions are reshaping the space, and what this means for your next big move. Read now to stay ahead of the market!

Block Scholes x Bybit Crypto Derivatives November 27th

A bounce-off of the key $100K price level for BTC has slowed growth in bullish positioning this week, but it hasn’t yet resulted in a sharp spate of liquidations or position closing. ETH has sustained its outperformance over the week, following the announcement of SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s January 2025 departure, and is joined in its outperformance by a swath of large-cap altcoins that had previously come under the scrutiny of the SEC under Gensler’s leadership, as reflected in bullish funding rates paid by long positions for the privilege of leveraged long exposure through the contract.

Block Scholes x Bybit Crypto Derivatives November 20th

Spot prices have surged in the two weeks since the Nov 5, 2024 U.S. elections, sending BTC far beyond its all-time price highs, while ETH has lagged behind. The implied volatility term structure has inverted once more alongside movements in spot, but longer-dated tenors remain relatively range-bound. Derivatives market indicators have shown persistently strong positive sentiment: perpetual funding rates remain constantly positive, open interest for futures contracts is growing rapidly and options skew is stubbornly positive.

Bybit x Block Scholes: Takeaways from the U.S. Election and What to Look for Next

Donald Trump’s election signals a pivotal shift in cryptocurrency policy, moving from skepticism to advocacy, which may redefine the regulatory landscape. The election result triggered immediate and substantial reactions in the crypto markets, particularly evident in Bitcoin's price surge, reflecting heightened investor optimism. A Republican-controlled U.S. Congress could lead to clearer and more favorable regulations for digital assets, fostering innovation and investment in the sector. As Bitcoin's dominance persists, emerging regulatory clarity may catalyze a resurgence in altcoins, particularly for platforms like Ethereum and Solana, which are poised to benefit from a pro-crypto environment.

Crypto Derivatives 19th November 2024

Derivatives markets continue to reflect the bullish momentum of recent weeks. Spot yields are approaching the positive highs observed last week, signalling robust demand as traders are willing to pay a premium for leveraged long exposure via the futures contracts. Skew levels and perpetual contracts funding rates remain firmly positive, reinforcing the optimistic sentiment and indicating that market participants are seeking exposure to upwards price action. Meanwhile, implied volatility remains within a range-bound pattern, while the term structure remains inverted. Current levels of inversion have yet to surpass the heightened activity seen during the pre-election period, but remain closely linked to spot movements.

DeFi Analytics 14th November 2024

This week's edition of our Crypto DeFi Analytics, This week we highlight the surging demand for blob gas, with the hourly average excess blob gas per Ethereum block reaching 60-80M. Meanwhile, the Beacon Chain deposits remained steady at 32.4M, with ongoing withdrawals and inflows balancing each other out. Ethereum’s gas fees saw a correction, aligning with the post-election rally in ETH’s spot price. The average cost to transfer ETH spiked to $3.40, with burnt gas fees returning to early October levels. An insight into DeFi activity is marked by Uniswap V3 transaction volume on Arbitrum and liquidation activities across Aave and Compound.

Crypto Derivatives 12th November 2024

One week after the election, spot prices have shown remarkable strength, with BTC reaching new all-time highs following an explosive rise. ETH, while not yet at record levels, has also gained upward momentum, displaying a steady increase since the election date. In the derivatives market, sentiment has strengthened for both tokens: futures implied yields, perpetuals funding rates, and skew all indicate a highly positive outlook. ATM implied volatility, which initially dropped after the election event risk passed, has since surged, inverting the term structure. Both BTC and ETH now benefit from a powerful combination of spot price gains and robust bullish derivatives activity, signalling strong demand to participate in further upside potential.

Block Scholes x Bybit Crypto Derivatives November 6th

As the outcome of the 2024 U.S. presidential election became clear, short-dated implied volatility levels dropped significantly for both BTC and ETH, with term structures flattening for BTC and evolving into a steep curve for ETH. Leveraged positions, which had unwound during pre-election spot volatility, have since rebounded, leading to a rise in open interest across both perpetuals and futures. Despite the passing of the event risk, positioning across all markets remains close to all-time highs, indicating that traders are willing to continue to pay for leveraged long exposure as BTC trades at all-time highs.

DeFi Analytics 7th November 2024

This week's edition of our Crypto DeFi Analytics, November has seen the Beacon Chain balance drop as withdrawals have dominated, while Ethereum’s on-chain activity slowed despite an increase in it's spot price following the US election. Separately, Solana continues to near Ethereum in gas fee generation. There was an increased demand in blob gas usage on Ethereum with Hourly Average Excess Blob Gas per Ethereum Block maintaining spikes of 70-80M. DeFi activity shifted, reflected in Uniswap V3 transactions on Arbitrum and liquidations across Aave and Compound.

Crypto Derivatives 5th November 2024

In the days leading up to the election we’ve observed a decline in both futures implied yields and perpetuals funding rates. With election-related uncertainty and recent spot price fluctuations, it’s clear that traders are now hesitant to pursue leveraged exposure in BTC and ETH as aggressively as they did last week, when the buildup of leverage was evident. This points to a reduced appetite for high-stakes directional bets, as BTC’s implied volatility remains elevated and continues to rise. Despite this, BTC’s volatility smiles keep signalling a bullish sentiment. In contrast, ETH’s implied volatility levels have slowed and moved sideways over recent days, with options’ skew reflecting a more bearish short-term sentiment. The spotlight therefore remains on BTC as the election cycle reaches its conclusion.

Block Scholes x Bybit Crypto Derivatives October 30th

As the U.S. election approaches, short-tenor implied volatility has surged to multi-month highs, outperforming the far-end of the term structure and resulting in a significant inversion in the term structure. This indicates strong moves in positioning ahead of the election early next week, reminiscent of the same pattern observed prior to the ETF launch in January. ETH derivatives suggest that the second-largest cryptocurrency is likely to continue its long-standing trend of underperformance amid event risk, trailing BTC across all metrics and carrying a 10-point volatility premium over BTC.

DeFi Analytics 31st October 24

This week's edition of our Crypto DeFi Analytics, October saw stable Beacon Chain balances as withdrawals matched deposits, while Ethereum’s on-chain activity slowed alongside a range-bound spot. On October 28, Solana’s gas fee generation exceeded Ethereum's, collecting $2.54M to Ethereum's $2.07M. Blob gas usage on Ethereum peaked, with excess blob gas spiking past 50M. DeFi activity shifted, reflected in Uniswap V3 transactions on Arbitrum and liquidations across Aave and Compound.

Crypto Derivatives 29th October 2024

The bullish pre-election positioning that we saw building up earlier in October has continued with vigour over the last 3 days. Futures-implied yields, perpetual swap funding rates, and now implied volatility have risen to months-long highs, with short-tenor option expiries out-performing to invert the term structure of volatility in a similar manner to the shape we observed ahead of the ETF launch in January. ETH derivatives indicate an expectation that the second largest crypto-currency will continue its years-long trend of under-performance through the event risk, lagging BTC in all metrics and assigning a 10 point volatility premium over BTC, but echo the trend of increasing bullish sentiment that we see expressed across markets.

Block Scholes x Bybit Crypto Derivatives October 23rd

With only two weeks left until the 2024 U.S. elections, ATM implied volatility levels have increased largely for 14-day tenor options, even as overall implied volatility levels have been trending downward, resulting in a very steep term structure. Sentiment remains bullish, as indicated by key metrics: open interest for both futures and call options is rising, and funding rates are positive for all monitored tokens, not just BTC and ETH. While the focus is primarily on majors BTC and ETH leading up to the election, traders are therefore anticipating a broader impact on the entire crypto ecosystem.

Crypto Senti-Meter V2: A Derivatives Sentiment Index

Block Scholes' Crypto Senti-Meter aggregates several measures metrics to measure the sentiment expressed by crypto-asset derivatives markets. Our index methodology leverages 4 years of advanced derivatives analytics, and is strongly correlated with movements in spot prices. In this second iteration of the index, we measure changes in momentum in derivatives market sentiment by evaluating the most recent value against its recent history.

Crypto Derivatives 22nd October 2024

The positive sentiment observed last week has consolidated, with bullishness reflected across key metrics for both majors. Perpetual funding rates remain positive, implied futures yields continue to show elevated levels and an inverted term structure, and the implied volatility smiles’ skew remains strongly tilted toward calls across tenors. The upcoming election is still impacting market dynamics greatly, with implied volatility for 14-day tenor options in both ETH and BTC rising, now approaching levels seen in longer-tenor options. At the same time, volatility at the far end of the term structure continues to trend sideways, only showing a slight decrease for BTC options. Notably, 7-day tenor options saw a spike in volatility last week, now having dropped sharply and sitting lower than last week.

Block Scholes x Bybit Crypto Derivatives October 16th

Despite the recent spot price rally, the extreme dislocation between long- and short-dated implied volatility continues. Market participants are therefore positioning more around post-election expectations than to the recent bullish movements in spot prices, which have led to a rise in realized 7-day volatility that now matches implied volatility levels for 30-day-tenor options. Bullish reactions to spot price activity can be observed, especially in perpetual funding rates, which now trade positively across almost all tokens.

Crypto Derivatives 15th October 2024

We’ve seen evidence of increasingly positive sentiment in the derivatives markets over the last week. The futures implied yields term structure has inverted, with a dramatic rise at the front end that signals increased demand for near-term long exposure. The perp swap funding rate has remained positive for both BTC and ETH, reflecting bullish sentiment as traders are willing to pay to hold long positions. Additionally, volatility smile skews have grown towards calls, reflecting the increasing appetite for upside exposure that we see in futures. At the same time, while pre-election implied volatility has remained subdued, reflecting relatively stable spot price movements, this positive market sentiment suggests expectations for a continued rise in spot prices that we have not seen in some time.

Block Scholes x Derive How to Analyse the Volatility Smile to Understand Market Positioning

Structured products are financial instruments that use options to customize investment strategies and enhance yields based on market views. Derive's "Vaults" aim to generate higher yields but carry the risk of loss if the strategy underperforms. This report will examine the key strategies available on the Derive platform, break them down into familiar options strategies, and explain how to leverage the volatility smile to make informed decisions for maximizing yield based on market expectations.

October 14, 2024

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Is Bitcoin Finally Decoupling from Equity Markets?

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