Bitcoin options trading now available on FTX

A major crypto derivative platform, FTX,
successfully launched Bitcoin options trading on Saturday, January 11th. The
addition of options trading was announced on Twitter by Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX
CEO.

At the moment, FTX only decided to list Bitcoin options, and it is unknown whether or not it plans to stop there, or provide options trading for other cryptocurrencies, as well. However, even Bitcoin options trading alone was greeted by the platform’s community with open arms.

In another tweet. Bankman-Fried stated that
trading volumes of FTX’s new options contracts reached $1 million within only
two hours since the launch.

By the time options trading reached 12 hours,
the platform noted the trade of over 2,000 contracts, which was also announced
in a separate tweet.

FTX’s fast growth and last year’s
controversy

FTX is still considered to be quite new in the
crypto space, as it was only launched last year. However, it quickly rose
through the ranks and attracted a mass of traders, which launched its further
growth. It wasn’t long before it entered the top 10 list of largest futures
trading platform, where it currently sits at the 8th spot. Its volume was at
around $370 million over the course of the last 24 hours.

Of course, while FTX is certainly attracting attention, it still has quite a long way to go before it reaches the market leaders such as Huobi and OKEx, both of which see billions in trades on a daily basis.

However, FTX is also seemingly supported by Binance, and it received an unknown amount from one of the world’s largest exchanges less than a month ago. The deal between the two allegedly involves FTX building out liquidity and institutional product offerings within Binance’s ecosystem. However, the derivatives platform also saw difficulties last year, when it faced a $150m lawsuit for alleged market manipulation and sale of unlicensed securities within the United States. However, due to the lack of evidence, the charges were dropped.