Cboe Global Markets announced on November 22, 2024 that it planned to begin trading cash-settled options on a new index of U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds on December 2. Cboe described the contracts as the first cash-settled index options related to the price of spot Bitcoin.
The proposed products represented another bridge between Bitcoin and established U.S. derivatives infrastructure. They would give market participants options exposure linked to a basket of regulated ETF shares without requiring settlement in Bitcoin or delivery of an individual fund’s shares.
The announcement was a launch plan, not evidence of a functioning market on November 22. No trading volume, open interest, bid-ask spread or realized hedging performance existed for the contracts on the event date.
An index rather than one fund
The standard contract was to reference the Cboe Bitcoin U.S. ETF Index under the ticker CBTX. Cboe said the modified market-capitalization-weighted index was designed to track a basket of spot Bitcoin ETFs listed in the United States and correlate with spot Bitcoin’s price.
That structure differed from an option written on shares of one fund, such as BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust. CBTX exposure would depend on the index methodology and its ETF constituents. It remained indirect Bitcoin exposure: the index measured securities holding Bitcoin rather than Bitcoin traded on a cryptocurrency exchange.
Cboe also planned MBTX options based on one-tenth of the standard index’s value. The smaller notional size was intended to provide greater position granularity. Both products were to be exclusively listed on Cboe Options Exchange and regulated under the securities-market framework.
The standard contracts would use European-style exercise, allowing exercise only at expiration. Cash settlement meant an expiring position would be resolved in dollars rather than through delivery of Bitcoin or ETF shares. Cboe also planned FLEX versions whose exercise price, exercise style and expiration date could be customized within applicable exchange rules.
Regulated Bitcoin options were expanding quickly
The announcement arrived during a rapid expansion of options tied to spot Bitcoin funds. Nasdaq had begun trading options on the iShares Bitcoin Trust on November 19. A separate Cboe rule filing submitted on November 21 sought authority to list options on shares of four Bitcoin funds: IBIT, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust and the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF.
The Securities and Exchange Commission published notice of that filing on November 22 and waived the customary 30-day operative delay. The SEC record said the individual-fund options would carry position and exercise limits of 25,000 contracts. Those products were distinct from the CBTX and MBTX index options announced by Cboe on November 22, but the parallel developments showed regulated venues building multiple ways to hedge or express views on ETF-based Bitcoin exposure.
Cboe argued that listed options could shift activity from opaque over-the-counter markets into an environment with exchange rules, market surveillance, public price discovery and clearing protections. Those were the exchange’s stated expectations, not verified event-day outcomes.
Bitcoin was approaching six figures
The timing amplified the announcement. Reuters reported that Bitcoin traded above $99,800 on November 22 before pulling back to approximately $99,383 later in its reporting window. CoinMarketCap’s November 22 historical snapshot listed Bitcoin at $98,997.66, up 0.50% over its displayed rolling 24-hour period and 8.71% over seven days. The snapshot placed market capitalization at approximately $1.959 trillion.
Those figures are not a universal Bitcoin close. Cryptocurrency trades continuously across fragmented venues, and Reuters’ observations and CoinMarketCap’s aggregated snapshot used different times and potentially different market coverage. They establish the approximate event-day setting: Bitcoin was trading just below $100,000 while regulated U.S. venues were expanding the derivatives infrastructure around spot ETF exposure.
The defensible November 22 conclusion is therefore narrower than a claim about adoption or market impact. Cboe committed publicly to a December 2 launch plan and specified the products’ basic design. Whether the contracts would launch as planned, attract durable liquidity or improve hedging could only be measured after November 22.
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