US exchange Nasdaq has filed a rule change application with the Securities and Exchange Commission to remove limits on options tied to funds traded on the Bitcoin and Ether spot markets, in an effort to bring cryptocurrency ETF options in line with rules applied to other commodity-based funds.
The proposal, filed on Jan. 7 and taking effect on Wednesday, removes existing limits of 25,000 options contracts tied to a range of Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) ETFs, including products from BlackRock, Fidelity, Bitwise, Grayscale, ARK/21Shares and VanEck, according to filing.
The SEC waived its standard 30-day waiting period, allowing the rule change to take effect immediately while retaining the right to suspend the change for 60 days if it determines further review is necessary.
Options are financial contracts that give investors the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an underlying asset at a set price before a specified date. Exchanges and regulators typically impose restrictions on options trading to reduce the risk of excessive speculation, market manipulation and concentrated positions that could enhance volatility or threaten market stability.
Nasdaq said the change would allow the exchange to treat digital assets “in the same manner as all other options eligible for listing,” arguing that the proposal would eliminate unequal treatment without compromising investor protections.
The SEC has opened a comment period on the proposal, with a final decision expected in overdue February unless the rule is suspended for further review.
The filing builds on Nasdaq’s approval in overdue 2025 to list options on single-asset cryptocurrency ETFs as commodity-based trusts, which allowed options on Bitcoin and Ether ETFs to be traded on the exchange, but leaving in place existing position and exercise limits.
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Nasdaq expands its role in cryptocurrency markets
Nasdaq continues to expand its role in cryptocurrency markets, from pushing tokenized stocks and unifying cryptocurrency indexes to loosening derivatives regulations around Bitcoin ETFs.
In November, Nasdaq submitted a proposal to the SEC to raise position limits on options linked to BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) from 250,000 contracts to 1 million, citing growing demand and arguing that the existing cap restricts hedging and other trading strategies.
That same month, Nasdaq’s head of digital asset strategy Matt Savarese told CNBC that the exchange was prioritizing regulatory approval to offer tokenized versions of its exchange-traded stocks, pledging to move quickly through the SEC’s review process after taking into account public comments and agency feedback.
In January, Nasdaq and CME Group announced plans to unify their crypto benchmarks, renaming the Nasdaq Crypto Index to the Nasdaq-CME Crypto Index, a multi-asset index that tracks major cryptocurrencies including BTC, ETH, XRP (XRP), Solana (SOL), Chainlink (LINK), Cardano (ADA), and Avalanche (AVAX).
Nasdaq is an American stock exchange operator which operates electronic markets for shares, derivatives and exchange-traded products and is the main listing place for technology and development-oriented companies.
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