► Onchain Options: The Next Phase of Crypto Leverage

Perp DEX already proved there’s massive demand for onchain leverage. Ppl don’t mind trading onchain anymore if liquidity is deep enough and execution doesn’t feel terrible.
Next catalyst I’m watching now isn’t just new markets or #RWA perps. I’ve seen the pattern in TradFi and starting to think the next phase probably onchain options growth.
Because options never scale first. In every market it usually goes spot → futures/perps → options → structured products → volatility products.
Markets need liquid underlyings before dealers can hedge gamma properly. Deep collateral before portfolio margin works. Enough real inventory sitting in the system before ppl even care about convex hedging.
That’s probably why options lagged crypto for so long.
– Deribit owns like ~78% of global crypto options flow
– BTC options OI recently floating around $30B+ with peaks above $50B last year
– $410.36M onchain options notional volume in the last 7d
– still small compared to perp DEX
Why I think the time for options to shine might happen this year:
– ETF ecosystem getting massive with IBIT options exploding
– treasury companies holding huge BTC inventory
– onchain perps already mature enough to hedge options books
– DeFi infra much better now
Institutions don’t stop at directional leverage forever. Eventually they need puts, collars, covered calls, inventory hedging, vol trades, structured yield products.
Onchain options market still looks early honestly. Yet the first credible version is being built:
– @derive_xyz: ~$132M TVL, 16B+ cumulative options notional, cross-margin system, RFQ support, integrated perps. Closest thing to a real onchain Deribit attempt so far.
– @ryskfinance: ~$55M TVL, $936M+ cumulative options notional, RFQ-based pricing with instant upfront premium payout, no liquidations. Building on HyperEVM as a structured yield layer.
– @HyperliquidX: HIP-4 added outcome contracts. Not just opening prediction markets but also pushing toward options-like derivatives.
– @aevoxyz: unified account, CLOB design, onchain settlement, $39B cumulative notional volume. But the market treating it more as a perp + prelaunch venue.
– @paradex: perpetual options with no expiry, no liquidation risk for buyers, pay funding instead of upfront premium, unified margin across perps and spot. Top 4 by notional volume doing $21.66M.
Most users probably never directly trade options anyway.
They’ll just deposit into yield vaults, principal protected products, enhanced BTC yield, auto-hedged stable strategies while options quietly sit underneath as invisible infrastructure.
Same way most TradFi users never touch SPX options manually while half the system indirectly depends on vol markets.
Again, onchain options might be the next real market structure expansion after perps.