The trading volume of Ethereum (ETH) options on major cryptocurrency derivatives exchanges has reached an all-time high. Currently, the total trading volume for ETH options exceeds $20 billion.
Total Trading Volume for Ethereum Options Climbs Above $20 Billion
Data provided by crypto derivatives exchanges shows that, just hours before the end of the month, the total trading volume for ETH options in January rose to approximately $20 billion. About $15 billion of this trading volume comes from high activity on the derivatives exchange Deribit.
Data from Deribit indicates that the majority of the circulating ETH option contracts are for calls with a strike price of $2,500 expiring on February 23. According to the exchange’s data, there are over 74,548 contracts with a strike price of $2,500, amounting to a nominal value of approximately $172 million.
In option trading, a call option gives the holder the right to purchase the underlying asset before or on the expiration date at a specified price, but not the obligation to buy.
The significant number of call options clustered at the $2,500 level suggests that a substantial portion of investors expect the price of ETH to rise above $2,500 by the expiration of contracts on February 1. Despite this expectation, the price of the altcoin king has seen a decline of about 1% in the last 24 hours, trading at $2,294.
Ethereum Trading Volume Reaches Highest Level in Recent Period
Furthermore, data reveals a significant increase in transaction volume on the Ethereum Blockchain throughout January. Accordingly, the network’s transaction volume for January has risen to $102.9 billion. The gains on the network signal a 5% increase in economic output compared to the $97.82 billion volume in December 2023.
The increase in transaction activity on the network is significantly above the levels seen in 2023 and the latter part of 2022. For instance, in September 2023, the transaction volume of the Ethereum network had fallen to its lowest level in the recent period at $49.12 billion.
