BitMEX, the world’s leading crypto derivatives exchange, announced the launch of Options trading via a strategic partnership with PowerTrade. Harnessing the collective expertise, this alliance aims to disrupt the crypto options market by challenging its rivals with significant market share such as Deribit. Renowned for its 100x leverage perpetual swap, BitMEX’s latest endeavour marks a significant expansion in its derivatives product offerings and provides traders with opportunities to benefit from any market condition in a fast, secure and capital-efficient manner.
The new BitMEX Options platform offers a full suite of institutional-grade options for major tokens, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Binance Coin (BNB), Solana (SOL), and Dogecoin (DOGE), with plans to expand in the near future. As part of the launch, all Options trading on BitMEX will be completely free – a zero-fee trading until the end of May.
Integrated into BitMEX’s existing interface and wallet system, traders can enjoy a user-friendly options trading experience via an orderbook and Request-for-Quote, with all the security and robustness of the BitMEX platform. The solution was co-developed with PowerTrade, a crypto options platform backed by Ascend Ventures, Pantera Capital, and Ledger Prime amongst others.
Stephan Lutz, CEO at BitMEX, said, “BitMEX has once again seen a notable growth in trading volumes across our prime derivatives contracts on Bitcoin, Ethereum, and many altcoins. When we first developed BitMEX Options trading, it was our priority to make it easy to use for perpetual swap traders. By integrating traditional trading interface features like live charts and multi-asset margining and leveraging on the battle-proven BitMEX infrastructure, we are confident to provide a better experience than the competition – especially for traders that are new to options. As options trading’s popularity grows stronger every day, BitMEX is now able to offer them a safer, more capital-efficient alternative than the foremost player in the market, Deribit.”
Distinguishing itself from competitors, BitMEX Options allows traders to deposit multiple tokens as collateral including BTC, ETH or USDT, whilst pricing and settling all options in USDC terms. The ability to use multi-asset margining at market rates eliminates any friction from asset conversions and collateral management, as well as improves user experience and capital efficiency by allowing for selected margin requirements to be offset for positions. Additionally, the new platform boasts an easy-to-use Request-for-Quote system that provides quotes and executes large single-leg or multi-leg options with no minimum block size requirement. For new options traders, $20 onboarding bonuses will be rewarded to the first 1,000 traders who meet the trading requirements.
On the note of the partnership with PowerTrade, Lutz continues, “We are excited to work closely with PowerTrade as we continue to expand our derivatives portfolio and continue to build the tools our trading community needs to make money.”
Mario Gomez Lozada, CEO at PowerTrade, said, “The partnership with BitMEX is founded in our dedication to innovation, which equips traders with cutting-edge tools to help them capitalise on market opportunities. The new BitMEX Options platform merges PowerTrade’s trader-centric Options solution with BitMEX’s deep liquidity and unparalleled reliability, empowering traders with seamless access to the most performant financial products.”
The BitMEX Options platform is supported by iGreeks and DWF Labs, two leading digital asset market makers. Eric Ma, Co-Founder at iGreeks, adds, “This exciting collaboration meets the needs of the modern traders by enhancing our market-making capabilities with reliable liquidity on BitMEX Options platform.” Andrei Grachev, CEO at DWF Labs, comments, “BitMEX’s partnership with PowerTrade is set to establish a new benchmark in the options trading market. Leveraging our profound understanding of market dynamics, we are committed to effectively providing healthy liquidity, ultimately optimising a more liquid and robust trading environment.”
Committed to pioneering innovation and enhancing trading experience, BitMEX constantly evolves cutting-edge tools and features for the best crypto traders. Last year, BitMEX launched over 70 derivatives contracts including Prediction Markets and Pre-Launch listings, alongside new pro trading platform features like Chart Trading, Sub Accounts, News Feeds, Multi-charting and Guilds, a social trading feature that incentivises users to collaborate and compete in weekly competitions to becoming even better traders.