Crypto Options Exchange Deribit Adding Zero-Fee Spot Trading

Deribit, the world's largest crypto options exchange by open interest and trading volumes, will be introducing a new spot trading feature.

The exchange, which accounted for 91% of global options open interest of over $13 billion in March, said the new platform would go live on April 24 and offer three pairs – BTC/USDC, ETH/USDC and ETH/BTC.

The feature will have zero maker and taker fees, meaning there will be no margin for the exchange. Makers create orders and wait for them to be filled, while takers remove liquidity by taking available orders.

The availability of spot trading means users can now buy and sell bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) immediately in addition to trading derivatives in which the payment and delivery of the underlying asset are made on a future date. It also means sophisticated traders in one place will be able to set up multi-leg complex strategies involving both the spot market and futures and options contracts.

"With this latest addition, our platform now boasts a comprehensive suite of both derivatives and spot trading solutions, catering to the diverse needs of traders in the digital asset space," Luuk Strijers, chief commercial officer at Deribit, told CoinDesk.

"Our spot trading feature serves as an exceptional tool for exchanging collateral like BTC and ETH, with the added benefit of zero costs, further enhancing the overall trading experience for our clients," Strijers added.

Deribit launched bitcoin options trading in 2016 and has since expanded into inverse and linear perpetual and futures markets for three base currencies: bitcoin, ether and the dollar-pegged stablecoin USDC.

Last month, the exchange unveiled trading in bitcoin volatility futures, opening doors for traders to place bets on the degree of price turbulence in the top cryptocurrency. The dollar value of the total open positions on the platform hit an all-time high of over $20 billion on March 30.