Recently, a fascinating phenomenon has emerged in the crypto market. While everyone is following the trend of perpetual contracts on Hyperliquid for trading oil products, the market-making giant Wintermute has taken a different path.

On Tuesday, Wintermute Asia's derivatives division launched an over-the-counter trading service for WTI crude oil spread contracts. This move may seem low-key, but it reflects a deeper market demand behind it. You see, the advantage of this type of spread contract platform lies in its flexibility — traders can use fiat or cryptocurrencies as collateral, and trade anytime and anywhere via chat, electronic OTC platforms, or APIs, completely unbound by traditional market opening hours.

Why is Wintermute doing this? Simply put, because the geopolitical situation in the Middle East has become very tense recently. Conflicts between Iran and the US-Israel alliance have led to increased oil price volatility, trapping many traders over the weekend, as they couldn't adjust their positions when traditional financial markets are closed. Although energy perpetual contracts on Hyperliquid are popular, that one-size-fits-all model isn't flexible enough for institutions and professional traders.

Spread contracts, as a derivative instrument, have been popular in traditional markets in Europe, Asia, and Australia for a long time. Its core logic is simple: you don't need to actually own the asset, just speculate on price movements. When the contract closes, only the difference between the opening and closing prices is exchanged. This kind of spread contract platform can be fully customized based on trading size, duration, and margin requirements — something perpetual contracts can't do.

Wintermute CEO Evgeny Gaevoy said they see strong demand from counterparties for trading traditional products like oil using digital asset infrastructure. Most importantly, Wintermute itself is the counterparty for these spread contracts, directly bearing market risk. This allows them to leverage their risk management systems and deep liquidity to turn the demand for all-weather crude oil into profits.

According to the official announcement, this spread contract platform supports multiple fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies as collateral, with zero trading fees. This launch comes shortly after Wintermute Asia's recent introduction of tokenized gold, further expanding their product line. Honestly, this strategy is quite clever — in a landscape where perpetual contracts are dominated by platforms like Hyperliquid, spread contracts have become a new blue ocean. For institutional traders requiring high customization and flexibility, such spread contract platforms may be more attractive than standardized perpetual contracts.