Final Upgrades Scheduled for September 6
As traders wagered on the upcoming switchover of the Ethereum blockchain from proof of work to proof of stake, known as The Merge, ether derivative trading spiked in August. Ethereum’s significant transition to proof of stake was announced in August, with the final upgrades scheduled for September 6 and September 10–20, respectively. The long-awaited update encouraged derivatives traders, and throughout the month, ether options and futures rose sharply.
Here are two of our data dashboard’s most fascinating milestones. The rise was attributed by hedge fund LedgePrime to traders positioning themselves in front of Ethereum’s switch to proof of stake using new, more sophisticated trading tactics. LedgerPrime said that the bull call spread had climbed into the top spot, overtaking the long call butterfly, which had previously held the top spot for the most traded ether structure during the previous month.
Ether Option Volumes Climbed Monthly by 6.1%
A butterfly spread is an options strategy made up of all calls or all puts that is built utilizing three distinct strikes inside a single expiry period. The spacing between each stroke must be uniform. When taking Deribit’s volume into account, these transactions suggest directional bets from institutions, as well as retail, and at the very least short-term directional bets.
By the end of August, total open interest in ether options had grown to $6.8 billion, continuing a monthly growth trend of 16.7%. Ether option volumes climbed monthly by 6.1% as well. During August, the volume of ether futures surpassed that of bitcoin futures for the first time. According to sources, the volume of ether futures in August was 1.11 times more than the volume of bitcoin futures. Furthermore, ether futures reached $1.64 trillion in August, surpassing $1 trillion for the first time since May 2021.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/09/04/ether-derivatives-are-skyrocketing-massively/