Traders rush to bet on election via new Bitcoin and Ethereum derivatives - DLNews

Deribit launched new options trades for Bitcoin and Ethereum that expire on November 8.
Institutional investors have already piled in about $15 million.

New options give crypto traders a way to bet on how the US presidential election will affect Bitcoin and Ethereum prices.

On Thursday, Deribit, a crypto derivatives exchange used mostly by institutional investors, listed options for the two cryptocurrencies.

Their expiration date is November 8, three days after the election.

The options have already seen almost $15 million in inflows —about $11 million into Bitcoin and $3.4 million into Ethereum, according to Deribit’s dashboard.

Luuk Strijers, CEO of Deribit, expects interest to grow over the coming months.

“The likelihood of crypto, and let’s say [Bitcoin] as a leading instrument, to be impacted by whatever is going to happen the next six months is rather high,” he told DL News.

The most popular bets for Bitcoin are for options that pay off when the price reaches $100,000. That’s a signal that traders see the price reacting to the more pro-crypto candidate — Donald Trump — as the election winner.

For Ethereum, the most popular bets were options that pay out when the price reaches $3,600.

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Trump trades

Strijers said elections often have big economic impacts.

In this presidential election, crypto has become part of Trump’s political platform and a campaign talking point.

The interest from institutional investors in trading the election also piggybacks on retail traders’ desire to bet on US politics, especially on Polymarket.

A crypto-powered prediction market, the platform has allowed smaller-pocketed traders to bet on whether they believe President Joe Biden will step down, who will win the election, and Trump’s pick for vice president.

Strijers said his team considered an entrance into prediction markets akin to Polymarket, but decided against it.

“I don’t think from our client base, there’s a lot of demand,” he said, referencing the mainly institutional investors who use Deribit. “The prediction markets are really a retail thing.”