Our weekly crypto derivatives analytics report delves into macro events; the current state of crypto and trading signals from spot trading volume; and futures, options and perpetual contracts.

After initially resisting US president Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, crypto markets joined the global sell-off, with BTC falling from $87K on April 2 to a low of $74K. BTC’s term structure was inverted again before easing, while ETH’s term structure remained inverted. Meanwhile, short-term BTC volatility skews favored OTM puts, reflecting more bearish sentiment than during the Q1 2023 US banking crisis. However, volatility levels decreased after Trump announced a 90-day pause on tariffs (excluding those on China), leading to a significant rally in spot prices.

Please check out the report’s highlights.

BTC open interest declined substantially this week

Bybit’s largest perpetual swap markets initially remained stable during the broader market sell-off and tariff reactions, recovering from the dip after the 

. However, Trump’s recent announcement and subsequent pause of near-unilateral import tariffs significantly impacted these markets, leading to notable declines in open interest for BTC and ETH, which have fallen sharply from their late March highs.

After a brief period of positive funding rates, BTC’s perpetual swap market fluctuated between positive and negative sentiment, indicating traders were hesitant to commit to a strong directional move (similar to trends in options markets). This changed when President Trump announced a 90-day tariff relief, leading to positive jumps in funding rates. Altcoins displayed a similar pattern, with funding rates alternately positive and negative before rising following the tariff announcement.

During the April 6–7, 2025 sell-off, traders sought downside protection, as BTC's spot price fell to $75K in reaction to President Trump’s tariff announcement. The high volume of put options relative to calls indicates strong demand for this protection. Meanwhile, the US's reciprocal tariffs caused a significant inversion in BTC’s at-the-money volatility term structure, which, although it has eased, remains inverted. Additionally, there‘s a stronger skew toward OTM puts at short tenors as compared to the March 2023 US banking crisis. Put open interest has surged over the past week, reflecting extremely bearish sentiment for both the near and long terms.

Advanced

block-scholes-x-bybit-report.jpeg

Bybit X Block Scholes crypto derivatives analytics report (Apr 9, 2025): Tariffs bring substantial volatility at a level similar to that of the Q1 2023 US banking crisis

In this tutorial, we’ll explore how you can stake and mint Lombard LBTCv on Bybit Web3 Staking with the Bybit Web3 Seed Phrase Wallet. 

In this tutorial, we’ll explore how you can stake BTC to mint 

Please note that in order to get started, you’ll first need to download the Bybit App on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. 

How to stake and mint LBTCv with Bybit Web3 Staking

: Launch the Bybit App on your mobile device and tap on the 

: Deposit BTC into your preferred Bybit Web3 Seed Phrase Wallet BTC address.

: Once you’ve deposited BTC into your wallet address, tap on the 

drop-down and select the BTC address into which you’ve deposited BTC. 

: Input the exact amount of BTC you’d like to stake, and tap on 

 and sign the message to allow this exact amount of BTC to be staked.

 page. Ensure that the amount of BTC is exactly the same as you wish to stake, and tap on 

: Tap on the icon located at the upper-right corner of the screen to check your transaction history.

: You’ll receive LBTCv in three progressive stages:

: Once you’ve received LBTCv, you can check your points (updated every hour).

If you wish to stake more BTC, simply repeat Steps 7 through 12. However, please

that you won’t be able to stake more BTC as long as you haven’t yet received your LBTCv.

To redeem your LBTC, simply scroll down the 

button. Then, wait three days for the successful redemption of LBTC.

If you wish to cancel your redemption, you can do so within these three days.

Beginner

lombard tutorial.png

How to stake and mint Lombard LBTCv with Bybit Web3 Staking

A Chainlink Spot ETF would bridge TradFi and crypto, offering a simplified way to gain exposure to LINK without the complexities of digital wallets or exchanges.

There's been a recent surge in spot ETF applications as investors look for ways to sidestep the rigid frameworks of traditional finance. The success of 

 — drawing billions in inflows — signals a major shift in the way institutions approach crypto investments. 

 networks, is in line for its own Spot ETF. The proposed fund promises a direct, hassle-free way to invest in Chainlink (LINK), eliminating the need to deal with complex 

 and exchanges. This article explores what a Chainlink Spot ETF is, how it would work, its current market impact and what its potential approval could mean for investors and the broader crypto landscape.

A Chainlink Spot ETF is an exchange-traded fund, backed by Chainlink (LINK) tokens, that would directly track the market price of LINK, a cryptocurrency powering decentralized oracle networks, thus enabling investors to gain exposure without directly holding the asset itself.

 (ETF) would offer investors direct exposure to LINK’s price movements without requiring the investors to handle the digital asset directly. 

Authorized Participants (APs), typically large financial institutions or market makers approved by the ETF issuer, play a central role in maintaining liquidity and aligning the ETF’s market price with its net asset value (NAV). These entities facilitate the creation and redemption of ETF shares by acquiring LINK tokens from exchanges or over-the-counter markets, and transferring them to the ETF’s custodian, a regulated entity responsible for secure storage. 

In exchange, the ETF issuer provides APs with newly created shares, which represent fractional ownership of the underlying assets. The shares are then introduced to secondary markets for investors to trade.

Creation, redemption and listing of shares

When redeeming shares, APs collect ETF shares from the market and return them to the issuer, receiving LINK tokens from the custodian in return. These tokens can be sold on the open market or held, depending upon the AP’s strategy. This creation-redemption process enables an 

 mechanism that stabilizes the ETF’s price, relative to its underlying assets. 

If the ETF is trading at a premium to NAV, APs create and sell shares to capitalize on the price difference, pushing the market price downward. Conversely, if the ETF is trading at a discount, APs redeem shares, reducing supply and driving the price upward. This dynamic ensures that the ETF’s market price remains closely tied to LINK’s actual value. 

Shares are listed on exchanges and traded like traditional stocks, integrating seamlessly into existing portfolios while offering potential tax efficiencies. The structure combines the accessibility of conventional investments with the benefits of cryptocurrency exposure, appealing to those seeking indirect participation in LINK’s market movements through a regulated and familiar framework. For investors, the ETF will simplify exposure to Chainlink by eliminating the need to manage 

 or wallets, or navigate complex crypto exchanges. 

The Hashdex Nasdaq Crypto Index US ETF, which includes Chainlink (LINK), has gained attention as a significant development in the crypto ETF space. This ETF, 

 in February 2025 and currently provides exposure to Bitcoin and Ethereum. 

 with the SEC on Mar 14, 2025 to expand the ETF's scope to include additional cryptocurrencies like LINK, ADA and SOL. This application remains the sole filing for a Spot Link ETF (as of Mar 20, 2025). While the SEC has approved the fund's initial structure, its response to the inclusion of Chainlink and other assets remains pending.

The SEC has historically been cautious about approving spot cryptocurrency ETFs, due to concerns about market manipulation and investor protection. However, the approval of multi-asset ETFs such as NCIQ signals a potential shift in regulatory attitudes. Market sentiment has been cautiously optimistic, with investors viewing these developments as a step toward broader acceptance and integration of cryptocurrencies into traditional financial systems. The timeline for the approval of Chainlink Spot ETFs remains uncertain, but growing institutional interest and regulatory advancements suggest progress in the near future.

Current impact of Chainlink Spot ETF applications on the crypto market

The anticipation surrounding Chainlink Spot ETF applications is clearly influencing market sentiment. Although Chainlink's price hasn’t yet surged dramatically, increased investor interest and speculation about potential ETF approvals have boosted overall optimism. 

Data from LINK and CoinGlass reveals that 

 have fallen to 138.8 million coins, the lowest since September 2024, indicating that investors are holding onto their tokens in self-custody wallets instead of selling. This trend reflects a growing belief that SEC approval for a Spot LINK ETF could substantially boost the token’s price. In addition, Chainlink’s role as one of the largest oracle networks and its innovative cross-chain interoperability protocol for asset tokenization further reinforce this positive outlook.

What will it mean if a Chainlink Spot ETF application is approved?

The approval of a Chainlink Spot ETF would have some significant implications for both the cryptocurrency market and traditional financial sectors, as follows.

If you’re looking to capture the market and trade LINK tokens, Bybit offers the 

A Chainlink Spot ETF would connect cryptocurrency with traditional finance by allowing investors to track LINK’s price without the complications of managing digital wallets. Specifically, it would keep the ETF's price in line with LINK’s market value, increase liquidity and attract institutional investors. Approval of a Chainlink Spot ETF could drive LINK's price higher, similar to trends seen with Bitcoin ETFs, and confirm Chainlink’s importance in the crypto ecosystem, encouraging its use across various industries. 

However, investors need to be cautious of potential short-term price swings and changes in regulations. Overall, this ETF would make crypto investing simpler for a broader audience, strengthening Chainlink’s position and supporting wider acceptance of blockchain technology in the financial world.

Intermediate

chainlink etf.png

Chainlink Spot ETF: A gateway to decentralized oracle investment

Huma Finance 2.0, a composable platform built on Solana, introduces real-world yield derived from global payment financing.

The S&P 500 fell 3.5% as renewed U.S.-China trade tensions erased gains from Trump’s tariff pause. Investors now await consumer sentiment data and bank earnings. Gold jumped 2.6% to a record $3,171 amid U.S.-China trade tensions, weaker dollar, and rising Fed rate cut bets. The Coindesk Indices, which tracks the broader crypto market, are down by 1.50%, with Bitcoin and Ether down 3.29% and 8.79% respectively in the past 24 hours. Trade these markets and more with up to 500x leverage on Bybit MT5 using this 

Today's top performer is ZRC, up 34.3%, followed by Zircuit's partnership with Diffuse Protocol to enhance the DeFi ecosystem with real-time data and secure cross-chain interoperability.

Zircuit (ZRC), founded in 2021, is a hybrid Layer 2 blockchain combining optimistic and ZK rollups, offering fast transactions, low costs, and strong security through AI-driven monitoring. EVM-compatible and designed for DeFi, it supports staking and asset transfers via its Liquidity Hub and secure native bridge. Zircuit has 

 with Diffuse Protocol to enhance its platform. Diffuse provides real-time verifiable data feeds, trustless cross-chain data streams, and restaking of assets with collateral abstraction, further strengthening Zircuit's AI-powered hybrid zkEVM and boosting its DeFi ecosystem.

Check out the latest prices, charts, and data of 

, a composable platform built on Solana, introduces real-world yield derived from global payment financing. The platform offers two options: Classic Mode for stable USDC yield and Maxi Mode for increased rewards through Huma Feathers. Through the $PST token, users can engage with DeFi protocols, swap tokens, and use them as collateral. Huma Finance has already processed over $3.8 billion in transactions, providing reliable yields sourced from payment-financing fees instead of market speculation. Huma 2.0 aims to bring a new liquidity model to DeFi, offering a more stable alternative to traditional financial cycles.

Yesterday, Bitcoin spot ETFs saw $149.5M in net outflows, with $44.6M from GBTC and $104.9M from other ETFs.

 has raised an additional $10M in its Series B round, bringing total funding to $35.5M with backing from a16z and other top investors. Users can boost their airdrop points by joining Towns, especially higher-priced ones, and by engaging through daily actions like tipping, inviting friends, and participating in different communities.

4.png

Huma Finance 2.0 launches on Solana, introducing real-world yield and composable DeFi integration

Bybit Learn

Options

Bybit Unified Trading’s Portfolio Margin function allows traders to use less margin to trade with enhanced capital efficiency especially for Options trading. Learn how it works. 

Options trading is famous for its versatility with leverage trading and hedging and for speculative purposes. Using Bybit Portfolio Margin for options trading elevates the trading process by streamlining one's assets in a single account, mitigating risk and improving overall returns. It enables portfolio diversification across multiple markets and asset classes, creating a more complex trading scene. We've put together a few strategies to help you trade more effectively with Bybit Portfolio Margin in different scenarios. Let's dive right into it. 

 (UTA), aims to help traders optimize the margin requirements of a portfolio. This function applies to USDC Derivatives accounts, where the long and short positions help across the perpetual and options contracts can be netted against one another. 

Whenever a user activates Portfolio Margin mode, it rebalances the margin requirements based on the overall portfolio risks, rather than the individual positions. The system will reduce the margin requirements according to state-of-the-art algorithms and hedging techniques. For example, suppose you're using it on USDC Derivatives accounts, in which the long and short positions are held across the perpetual and options contracts. In that case, these positions will be netted against one another. 

Crypto options and traditional crypto trading offer traders an opportunity to maximize profits using different trading strategies. However, options trading offers several distinct advantages from traditional trading products. The following are some examples.

For traders looking to manage risk and capitalize on market movement, options are a popular investment strategy. Crypto options, for example, are contracts that allow the trader to buy or sell an asset at a specified price within a given time frame or by a specific expiration date. 

Suppose the option expires in-the-money (

). In that case, the trader's account will receive a credit or debit based on the cash difference between the strike price and the settlement price, without requiring them to actually buy or sell the underlying asset.

Options provide a gateway for retail traders to get started in crypto trading with minimal capital. When trading options, you’re buying a contract with a minimal entry price at a calculated risk to gain access to a large number of underlying assets. With leverage, options traders can multiply their buying power with minimal invested capital. In other words, the trader is leveraging the value of the underlying security for a maximum return on investment. 

Best Options Trading Strategies Using Portfolio Margin

While crypto prices are typically assumed to be priced as efficiently as possible due to the efficient market hypothesis and price discovery environment, sometimes pricing inefficiencies will still exist due to a lack of liquidity or sudden move in the market. That’s where the spot perpetual arbitrage strategy comes in. By taking into account the differences in pricing between USDT and USDC pairs for the same crypto asset, risk-free profits can be secured when traders simultaneously execute trades to correct this pricing discrepancy in the crypto market. This effectively works as a form of 

 and takes advantage of the pricing discrepancies that might be present between both USDT and USDC pairs for the same crypto asset.

For further clarity, let’s illustrate this with a hypothetical scenario.

A brief example would be a trader noticing a pricing discrepancy between the USDT and USDC pairs for Bitcoin and deciding to make an arbitrage trade based on the spot price of BTC. Let’s go with the current example of BTC’s spot price being $30,000. On the spot pair side of things, BTCUSDT is currently $30,020 and BTCUSDC is currently $30,027. 

To initiate the trade, traders can begin by purchasing 1 BTC for 30,020 USDT. Then, they can close the trade by instantly closing the position and selling that 1 BTC for 30,027 USDC. This nets arbitrage traders a $7 in profit, assuming both USDC and USDT have a notional value of $1.

By making use of Bybit’s UTA, traders can make use of UTA-PM mode to increase their profits by 10x (assuming 10x leverage for spot pairs) and enhance their existing capital efficiency.

Traders can opt to use the bull spread approach to buy and sell call options on the same asset with different strike prices if they have a bullish outlook on the underlying crypto asset. 

The concept is relatively simple and involves capitalizing on the price movement by buying a call option with a lower strike price, then selling a call option with a higher strike price to earn the differences in the form of a spread. Whenever the asset price rises, the purchased call option will increase while the value of the sold call option will decrease, which results in a net gain. 

Trader A has a bullish perception on the price of BTC and chooses to open a bullish option strategy. Also, Trader A thinks that the volatility curve is too steep in BTC's options that are further out in expiry, and the implied volatility of out-of-the-money (OTM) options is overestimated compared with that of at-the-money (ATM) options. Therefore, Trader A  buys ATM options and sells OTM options for BTC. 

Suppose the current BTC price is $30,000. Trader A then buys the 30500c BTC call contract with an expiration date of 36 days and sells the 33500c BTC call contract with the same expiration date. This grants Trader A net positive delta of about $0.27 and a net debit in option premiums of about $965. In other words, this translates to $0.27 in profit with every dollar increase in BTC and Trader A spending $965 for a single bull call spread. 

Thanks to the use of UTA-PM and UTA-RM modes, overall capital efficiency is improved as the existing assets within the portfolio are consolidated and traders can avoid liquidation because of the lack of risk amplification from a single loss.

Short Strangle Strategy With Short Expiration Dates

Traders use this strategy to write both call and 

 simultaneously with the same expiration date but with a different strike price to profit from the premium after selling these options contracts.

In our hypothetical scenario, this involves Trader A selling an out-of-the-money call option and  an out-of-the-money put option with a short-term expiration date. Traders profit from the premiums when selling the options whenever the strike prices for the two options remain within the range of the strike prices of the options contracts written 

For example, Trader A trades BTC options and sells a call option with a strike price of 33500 and a put option with a strike price of 29500 while BTC is trading at $30,000. If BTC trades within the range of $29,500 to $33,500, then Trader A profits as the out-of-the-money option contracts expire worthless while getting to keep the profits collected from when the option contracts were written.  

: As writing naked crypto option contracts are considered risky, the margin demands involved with executing such an options strategy will be high. With UTA-PM, traders can write the call and put contracts without fear of liquidation because of the lowered margin requirements.

A combination of options trading strategies is widely used to help maximize and hedge against potential risks associated with the various types of options contracts. The use of portfolio margin can increase a user's capital efficiency with a lower margin involved. Still, options strategies are relatively complex for beginners, as they involve many other factors that may trigger a counter effect. Therefore, invest in options only if you’re confident with the fundamentals.

Top Options Trading Strategies to Use With Bybit Portfolio Margin

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards