IEX Launches Options Trading, Files to List Bitcoin ETF Options

On October 2, 2026, the Securities and Exchange Commission published notice of a rule change that lets Investors Exchange list options on commodity-based trusts holding Bitcoin and other crypto assets, and that sets position and exercise limits for options on BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF. The filing, Release No. 34-106575, arrived the same day IEX’s new options venue, IEX Options, was scheduled to begin trading, and the Commission made it effective immediately.

What the rule change establishes

IEX proposes to add a generic listing standard for options on trusts that hold a single crypto asset or multiple crypto assets. To qualify, each underlying asset must post an average daily market value of at least $700 million over the prior 12 months, measured as total global supply multiplied by token price, using prices drawn from public sources such as CoinGecko or CoinMarketCap. Each asset must also underlie a derivatives contract that trades on a market where IEX has a comprehensive surveillance sharing agreement, either directly or through common membership in the Intermarket Surveillance Group. The exchange would verify the $700 million threshold on a monthly basis and the surveillance requirement continuously, and it could delist options whose underlying trust stops meeting those conditions.

IBIT limits and the IEX Options launch

The proposal also aligns IEX’s position and exercise limits for IBIT options with the limits already in force on other options exchanges. IEX submitted the proposed rule change on September 22, 2026. The exchange’s options venue, approved by the Commission in September 2025, opened for trading on October 2. IEX said its crypto-trust criteria are substantively identical to standards the Commission has already approved for ISE, MEMX, MIAX, BOX, PHLX, NYSE American and NYSE Arca, and the SEC waived the usual 30-day operative delay because the change raises no new legal or regulatory questions.

Why it matters

The change adds another U.S. venue for options on spot Bitcoin and Ether funds, which have become among the most heavily traded crypto products in the United States. Options give traders a cheaper way to hedge exposure to those funds, and the move comes at a time when exchange-traded crypto products are drawing more regulatory attention. The SEC recently approved a Nasdaq Texas rule adding a digital-commodity definition to crypto ETPs, and NYSE Arca earlier launched options on the Zcash ETF. IEX’s proposal is open for public comment for 21 days after its Federal Register publication.