Nasdaq Moves to Supercharge Options Trading on BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF
Global markets are watching a major shift in how Wall Street trades Bitcoin , as Nasdaq’s International Securities Exchange seeks to massively increase the trading capacity of options on BlackRock’s flagship iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF .
Nasdaq Wants IBIT in the Big-League Club
Nasdaq ISE has filed a proposal with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to quadruple the position and exercise limits on options tied to BlackRock’s IBIT, from 250,000 contracts to 1,000,000 contracts per side. If approved after a public comment period ending December 17, IBIT options would join the top tier of the options universe, alongside major equity benchmarks like the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM) and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF , as well as blue-chip names such as Nvidia .
This would be the second hike in IBIT’s limits since the ETF launched in January 2024. Nasdaq first raised the cap from 25,000 to 250,000 contracts in July 2025, but the surge in liquidity and institutional interest quickly made that ceiling restrictive. In its filing, Nasdaq argues that the current cap “impedes legitimate trading and hedging strategies” used by large institutional market makers and risk managers.
Bitcoin ETF Options Go Fully Institutional
Behind this move is the arrival of real institutional size. IBIT has become the largest Bitcoin options market in the world by open interest, surpassing even Deribit, the dominant offshore crypto derivatives venue. “IBIT options are finally getting the treatment they deserve. Institutional volume is finally here,” wrote Jeff Park, CIO at Bitwise Asset Management, on X, capturing the sentiment of many professionals.
The proposed 1 million–contract limit would represent roughly 7.5% of IBIT’s outstanding shares and just 0.284% of the total Bitcoin supply, even if every contract were exercised at once, according to Nasdaq’s analysis. That relatively small footprint versus the underlying market is one of the key arguments the exchange uses to show that the expanded limits should not pose a destabilizing risk.
Wall Street Builds Structured Products Around IBIT
Traditional finance is not stopping at plain-vanilla ETF exposure. JPMorgan Chase has filed to issue structured notes linked to IBIT, offering investors leveraged upside with a minimum yield of around 16% if the ETF hits pre-set targets by 2026. If those targets are not met on schedule, the notes can extend toward 2028, effectively turning Bitcoin’s halving-driven cycles into a programmable investment theme—but also exposing investors to significant losses if prices fall far enough.
Analysts like Tim Sun of HashKey Group told Bloomberg that it is “reasonable to expect more structured products to adopt Bitcoin as the underlying asset,” calling this wave of product innovation a “natural outcome of deeper institutional participation.” Put simply, once an asset is inside a large, liquid ETF like IBIT, Wall Street can build its usual toolkit—options, notes, overlays—around it.
Bitcoin Price Recovers as Flows Stabilize
The push to expand options limits comes as Bitcoin trades near 91,000 dollars, recovering from a drop below 81,000 earlier in the month. IBIT, which became one of the fastest ETFs in history to reach roughly 70 billion dollars in assets, had recently seen outflows but has attracted about 125–126 million dollars in net inflows over the last two days.
For institutional investors, the message is clear: Bitcoin is increasingly treated like a large-cap core asset. With deeper options markets, structured products, and heavy ETF liquidity, the crypto asset is being woven more tightly into the fabric of global portfolio construction, risk management, and yield-seeking strategies.