Our weekly crypto derivatives analytics report dives into macro events, the current state of crypto and trading signals from spot trading volume, and futures, options and perpetual contracts.

Spot prices have jumped significantly in the two weeks following the November 5, 2024 U.S. elections, propelling Bitcoin to new all-time highs, while Ethereum hasn’t kept pace. The implied volatility term structure has inverted again in tandem with these spot price movements, although longer-dated tenors remain relatively stable. Derivatives market indicators reflect strong positive sentiment: perpetual funding rates are consistently positive, open interest in futures contracts is rapidly increasing and options skew remains firmly positive.

Open interest in futures has surged, indicating heightened market participation and a growing interest in leveraged exposure due to recent price movements. Similarly, open interest in perpetual contracts has sharply increased, fueled by rising trader confidence and a growing demand for leveraged positions in light of recent market rallies. Meanwhile, the implied volatility term structure continues to invert in alignment with spot price increases, demonstrating a sustained correlation between spot prices and volatility.

Please check out the report’s highlights.

Futures Open Interest Reaches ATH Along With Price

Perpetual swap open interest has been increasing alongside futures, with a consistent rise in open positions over the past week reaching all-time high activity levels. This trend suggests that traders are actively pursuing leveraged exposure in response to the ongoing spot rallies, aiming to capitalize on the rising spot prices. Notably, there’s been renewed interest in Ethereum (ETH), reflected in rising trading volumes. 

Perpetual swap funding rates have reached exceptionally positive levels, indicating that long positions are confident enough to pay these rates to sustain their leveraged exposure. This trend has consistently been observed across all tokens, with a noticeable rise in funding rates since Nov 10, 2024. The persistently high funding rates highlight the strength of the bullish sentiment, which is also evident in the increasing open interest in futures contracts. This aligns with the recent spot price action, demonstrating significant upward momentum.

Option Volatility Term Structure Inverts 

The implied volatility term structure for Bitcoin has inverted amid the recent spot rallies over the past few weeks, indicating heightened market uncertainty and expectations of imminent price movements. However, levels haven’t exceeded the highs seen before the elections, and longer-dated tenors remain firmly range-bound. Concurrently, open interest in Bitcoin options has risen significantly, with a notable increase in put trading volumes. Open interest in puts has slightly surpassed calls, despite the persistently bullish market outlook indicated by the volatility smile skew.

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Bybit X Block Scholes Crypto Derivatives Analytics Report (Nov 20, 2024): Market Becomes Extremely Positive About Bitcoin as Volatility Curve Turns Invert

Learn how to join Bybit's VIP Program, where you can realize exclusive benefits — from up to 50% off trading fees and tailored interest rates to instant OTC trades up to $10M.

With the Bybit VIP Program, you can realize exclusive benefits — from up to 50% off trading fees and tailored interest rates to instant OTC trades, Bybit Card cashback and more. Joining the ranks of the very best traders on the platform will boost your profitability, raise your limits and offer access to VIP-only perks.

 and guides you through the steps to become a VIP trader and unlock exclusive benefits. Let's get started!

 is an exclusive club for the most esteemed traders in the crypto market. It’s designed to provide members an enhanced Bybit experience with numerous VIP-only benefits and perks. The program aims to reward avid traders who have high volumes, account equity levels and borrowing activities.

The Bybit VIP Program offers a multitude of benefits for members. These range from discounted trading fees and high limits for withdrawals and application programming interface (API) trades to priority Bybit customer support access, relationship managers and exclusive VIP events and meetups. You can find the full list of VIP exclusive benefits 

Requirements to Become a Bybit VIP Trader

You’ll need to fulfill a specific level for one of the criteria below to become a VIP trader on Bybit:

Bybit's VIP Program features six distinct tiers: 

. Each successively higher tier offers greater rewards, and also comes with more stringent qualification requirements. For instance, as a 

 trader, you’ll enjoy reduced trading fees, such as 0.03% for makers and 0.045% for takers in the spot market. To qualify for this exclusive tier, you must meet at least one of the following criteria:

Once you become a VIP trader, you must continuously meet the above criteria to maintain your Bybit VIP status and keep enjoying the benefits. 

However, this doesn't mean your account will immediately lose its VIP status and revert to standard after a single day in which you don’t meet the requirements. Bybit offers a 14-day grace during which you can continue enjoying VIP perks and benefits, even if you no longer meet the program's conditions. If the criteria are not met by the end of this period, your VIP status will automatically be revoked. However, if that occurs, you can regain your status by fulfilling the requirements for any VIP tier either during or after the grace period. When this happens, Bybit will grant you a new 14-day grace period.

How to Sign up to Become a Bybit VIP Trader

In the following section, you'll find a step-by-step guide that shows you how to join the Bybit VIP Program.

The first step to becoming a VIP trader is to open a Bybit account (if you haven't already done so). Simply 

 and fill out the form with your details. After registering, you’ll need to verify your account to enjoy the platform's full functionality.

Next, fund your Bybit account with crypto or fiat currency.

You can deposit cryptocurrencies by using the 

 menu. On the page, choose your desired coin and the blockchain where you'll be depositing the assets. To avoid any loss of funds, please always ensure that you're transferring crypto from the correct chain.

Next, copy-and-paste the wallet address displayed on the page, or scan the QR code with your smartphone's camera, and initiate the deposit from your wallet. After a few confirmations, your cryptocurrencies will be credited to your Bybit account.

To fund your Bybit account with fiat currency, click on the 

 button and select one of the available services (e.g., 

 service, choose a fiat currency, the deposit amount and one of the available payment methods. After clicking on 

, follow the instructions displayed on the next pages to initiate the transaction. Your funds will be credited to your Bybit account, with processing times varying according to your chosen service and payment method.

After you have a verified Bybit account funded with either crypto or fiat, perform eligible activity on the platform until you qualify for VIP status (see table below).

You can achieve VIP status by fulfilling a minimum level of VIP 1 in either of the following categories (

After becoming a VIP trader on Bybit, don't forget to maintain your VIP status to continue enjoying the exclusive perks and benefits.

If you have active VIP status at another crypto exchange, or your total MT5 trading volume meets Bybit's VIP criteria, you can apply for a VIP+2 upgrade. This upgrade will grant you VIP status on the platform — and instantly elevate it by two levels. (Please 

 that Bybit only considers 10% of any MT5 forex trading volume.)

 and submit your 30-day trading volume on your current exchange. Bybit’s VIP team will review your application, and a Relationship Manager will contact you if you're eligible for the VIP upgrade.

How to Get Started With a 20-Day Bybit VIP Trial

Another way to qualify for VIP status on Bybit is through a 20-day trial. Instead of fulfilling the requirements of the VIP 1 level, simply fund your account with $50,000 to enjoy the exclusive benefits of the program for 20 days with a VIP Trial Card (issued one day after your deposit). The VIP trial offer is available to users who haven't used a trial within the past two months.

To unlock the 20-day VIP trial, head to the 

 menu on Bybit and use one of the available payment methods to fund your account with $50,000 in assets.

With VIP Level-Up Tasks, you can earn generous bonuses as high as 6,000 USDT. You can claim rewards for Level-Up Tasks for five VIP levels (VIP 1, VIP 2, VIP 3, VIP 4 and VIP 5), with higher tiers offering greater bonuses upon completion.

If you're eligible, you’ll see a pop-up window with VIP Level-Up Tasks after you log into your account. To claim your rewards, complete the specified trading volume requirement within 14 days of receiving the task, and click on the 

 page. You can learn more about Bybit VIP Level-Up Tasks

Exclusive Trading Benefits Offered to Bybit VIPs

As a member of the Bybit VIP Program, you can unlock exclusive benefits to supercharge your trading experience. Among these are discounted trading fees (which can significantly boost your trading revenue), profitability and chances of winning trades.

In addition to discounted trading fees, you’ll also enjoy substantially higher API trading and withdrawal limits. While the former is restricted to 10 trades per second for non-VIP users, you can take advantage of up to 120 API trades per second as a VIP trader. Simultaneously, your daily withdrawal limit is increased from the basic 1 million USDT to as high as 12 million USDT.

 is an exclusive club that provides an enhanced service experience for the most esteemed traders. As a member, you can access a multitude of exclusive benefits and perks, such as the following:

Are you ready to supercharge your trading experience? 

Intermediate

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How to Become a Bybit VIP: Your Guide to Exclusive Benefits

LETSTOP is a drive-to-earn mobile app that monitors phone distractions while driving. Learn more about how it works in this article.

Smartphone distractions have created an unprecedented road safety crisis worldwide. 

: texting behind the wheel makes drivers six times more likely to crash than drunk driving does — yet millions of drivers still use their phones while operating vehicles.

This article explores how LETSTOP is transforming safe driving into rewarding experiences through blockchain technology. We'll examine its drive-to-earn model, reward system, tokenomics and potential as both a road safety solution and an investment opportunity.

 is a drive-to-earn mobile app that monitors phone distractions while driving. Users earn STOP tokens for phone-free driving through a gamified system that transforms daily drives into rewarding experiences.

A life-changing car accident caused by a distracted driver running a red light inspired LETSTOP co-founder Almog Nissan to reimagine road safety. Together with co-founder and CEO Dor Levy, they envisioned rewarding safe driving, rather than just punishing dangerous behavior.

The founders built a platform that combines automotive technology, cryptocurrency and AI to revolutionize road safety through rewards. This innovative approach has quickly gained traction, with over 50,000 users logging over 3 million kilometers of safe driving since the app’s launch.

Distracted driving claims thousands of lives annually, with 

, of which 9% are directly linked to phone use. LETSTOP aims to tackle this crisis as follows:

Each of these objectives works harmoniously to support LETSTOP's ultimate mission of transforming road safety into a rewarding experience that benefits both individual drivers and society.

The LETSTOP app operates through a sophisticated system that monitors and rewards safe driving through the following apps and features:

The result is a dynamic system in which better driving habits unlock greater earning potential.

The following five core features power LETSTOP's drive-to-earn ecosystem.

LETSTOP uses a dynamic 40-level system to make safe driving rewarding. As drivers earn XP through distraction-free journeys, they advance from Level 1's 2% bonus toward Level 40's 70% boost. Through this gamified approach, daily commutes become opportunities to climb the ranks while building safer driving habits.

LETSTOP Credits are the core currency of the platform, earned directly through safe driving achievements. Earning rates directly scale with user level, vehicle type and subscription tier as follows: PRO subscribers enjoy unlimited earning potential, while PLUS and LITE tiers are capped at 300 and 150 monthly credits, respectively.

In the STOP Store, users invest their earned credits into virtual cars with unique earning multipliers. From the basic model's 2% bonus to the Jazzster GN's 150% boost, each vehicle offers different strategic advantages for maximizing rewards.

Beyond vehicles, the store features mystery boxes containing rewards from 10 to 450 credits, as well as car upgrades and subscription boosts. Users can also access a voucher marketplace to redeem credits for real-world rewards through LETSTOP's partnership network.

LETSTOP's triple-boost system combines vehicle multipliers for immediate earnings acceleration, a level-progression system for sustained growth and a 5% referral program for community expansion. Premium membership unlocks enhanced benefits across three tiers, while special events create time-limited opportunities for increased rewards.

The platform's comprehensive rewards system operates across three membership tiers, each one tailored to different user needs. LETSTOP PRO (at $9.90 monthly) offers unlimited credit earning potential and exclusive benefits. The PLUS tier provides a balanced option at $4.90 monthly with a 300-credit earning cap, while the free LITE tier allows users to earn up to 150 monthly credits.

Beyond direct earnings, the rewards system incorporates partner vouchers, cryptocurrency conversion options and community features, such as leaderboards. Achievement rewards recognize milestones in users' safe driving journeys, while the upcoming cryptocurrency integration will allow users to convert their efforts into tradeable STOP tokens.

LETSTOP has shown consistent progress, with the following key milestones already achieved:

Looking ahead to 2025, LETSTOP plans to implement the following key developments:

These developments aim to strengthen LETSTOP's position as a leader in drive-to-earn while furthering its mission to enable safer roads worldwide.

STOP is an SPL token built on the Solana network. It’s designed to bridge safe driving behavior with cryptocurrency rewards. The STOP token implements an annual halving mechanism to ensure long-term value preservation, similar to Bitcoin's model, but accelerated to align with the project's growth trajectory.

STOP has a max supply of 100 million tokens, to be distributed in the following manner:

The growing adoption of LETSTOP's drive-to-earn app and its impact on road safety directly influence STOP's price trajectory. While cryptocurrency forecasts remain speculative by nature, multiple price analysis platforms project the following for STOP:

These forecasts suggest a positive long-term outlook for STOP, driven by the growing drive-to-earn sector and LETSTOP's innovative approach to road safety. However, STOP's future value will ultimately depend upon user adoption, platform development and broader market conditions.

Looking to trade LETSTOP tokens? Bybit now offers the STOP/USDT Spot trading pair. To get started, you’ll first need to create a Bybit account, then fund it with cryptocurrency and navigate to the 

STOP shows promising potential in the drive-to-earn sector, though investors should carefully weigh both its strengths and potential risks before making investment decisions.

While STOP's innovative approach to road safety and its strong initial traction distinguish it in the market, potential investors should 

 and invest no more than they can afford to lose.

As smartphone distractions continue to endanger lives on roads worldwide, LETSTOP offers an innovative path forward. Through its innovative drive-to-earn model and STOP token ecosystem, the platform transforms daily commutes into safer roads and user earnings opportunities, showing how digital innovation can effectively “drive” positive behavioral change.

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LETSTOP (STOP): Turning Daily Rides Into Profitable Journeys

FDUSD, a stablecoin from First Digital Labs, is now live on Sui as a native token, joining other stablecoins like USDC and AUSD.

The S&P 500 ended flat amid mixed earnings and geopolitical concerns, as investors awaited Thursday's data and Fed commentary. Coindesk Indices, an index measuring broader cryptocurrency market performance was up by 2.01%, with Bitcoin rising by 1.91% and Ether dropping by 0.59%, in the past 24 hours.

Today's top performer is LUMIA, which surged 16.1% following the announcement of its partnership with Cobox to bridge real-world assets and virtual ownership.

Lumia (LUMIA), founded in 2024, is a Layer 2 blockchain solution leveraging the Polygon CDK to enhance scalability, liquidity, and interoperability. It addresses challenges like data availability and cross-chain interactions by incorporating AvailDA for decentralized data and Polygon AggLayer for cross-chain functionality, enabling efficient and flexible dApp development. 

 to integrate real-world assets (RWAs) into its immersive, player-owned universe. This collaboration aims to enhance asset liquidity, trading, and gameplay experiences, bridging digital and physical realms for more tangible and vibrant virtual ownership.

Check Out the Latest Prices, Charts, and Data of 

, a stablecoin from First Digital Labs, is now live on Sui as a native token, joining other stablecoins like USDC and AUSD. This launch reflects growing institutional confidence in Sui, which has seen significant growth in TVL and DeFi volume. FDUSD, backed by reserves in Asian banks and US Treasury debt, offers DeFi users a reliable, US Dollar-pegged stablecoin, bridging traditional finance and cryptocurrency ecosystems.

Yesterday, the total flow into Bitcoin Spot ETFs is $146.9 million, with $0 million in GBTC and $146.9 million in non-GBTC products.

: the Spotlight Badge, which requires minting through the Spotlight Protocol and joining a Spotlight circle; the Impossible Finance Badge, which involves completing social tasks, claiming the TIDIA faucet, staking TIDIA on Impossible Finance, and then claiming the badge; and the SNGLR Badge, where users connect their wallet, follow artists, mint IP assets, tweet, and provide personal details to claim their badge. More badges are coming soon!

Beginner

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FDUSD Launches as Native Stablecoin on Sui, Strengthening DeFi Ecosystem

Bybit 360

Options

Learn how this data can help us make more informed trades, we aim to equip traders with the tools they need to navigate the market effectively. 

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 trading has been an important part of the broader crypto economy and the most important price discovery venue for cryptocurrency, especially for blue chips like 

. Professional traders and institutions have been using futures and options as part of their portfolios to hedge their positions, improve the execution of their strategies and potentially increase the profitability of their portfolios. 

Most participants in the cryptocurrency derivatives markets are professional traders (or as some may call them, 

) who are often at the forefront of crypto trading.. Observing the derivatives markets by constantly examining the relevant data could provide valuable insights into how these professional traders see the market.

In this article, we’ll provide a practical overview of derivatives trading data and explain how an everyday trader can extract actionable information from this data. By discussing how this data can help us make more informed trades, we aim to equip traders with the tools they need to navigate the market effectively. 

Open interest (OI) is one of the most common metrics in crypto derivatives trading. It refers to the number of outstanding unsettled (opened) contracts — whether perpetual, futures or options — that market participants hold at any given time.

Figure 1: BTCUSDT Perpetual open interest on Bybit

OI is essential because it essentially tracks the number of active market participants and, to some extent, is able to reflect the level of willingness of these professional traders to make trades at a specific time. 

 OI on Bybit. There was a clear spike in OI on September 19, 2024, when the United States Federal Reserve delivered its 50 bps rate cut. This surge in OI could mean traders have been more willing to bet on BTC prices after confirmation of the cut.

It’s important for general traders to know how active the market is. If the market is active, it could give asset prices stronger momentum. In contrast, a less active market with a continuing lower OI could mean that traders are in a wait-and-see mode.

The long/short ratio is another derivatives trading indicator from which we can extract important information. It essentially gives you a glimpse of oversold sentiment among professional traders. As the name suggests, the long/short ratio expresses the net long and net short positions as percentages of all position holders within a specific period. 

Figure 2: Bybit’s BTCUSDT Perpetual daily long/short ratio.

Examining the changes in the long/short ratio could also give general traders more confidence to spot trends. For example, in early September 2024, BTC prices saw noticeable fluctuations, from around $64,000 in late August to near $52,000 in early September.

Figure 2 shows the daily long/short ratio of BTCUSDT on Bybit. During the sell-off, the long-short account ratio increased for three consecutive days and reached 2.9 on September 7, 2024, the highest level in a recent month.

Interestingly, as Figure 3 suggests, the price of BTC decreased during the highlighted period while the number of long accounts accumulated. This divergence could imply that derivatives traders have been gearing up for a potential trend reversal, thereby opening more long positions.

Let's look at the recent BTCUSDT perpetual long/short ratio. Figure 4 shows the ratio dropping from 1.71 on Sep 19, 2024 to 1.25 on September 20, one day after the Fed's rate cut. Despite the market seeming to react positively after the cut is delivered, the long/short ratio shows that short accounts have actually increased. 

This increase could be interpreted as traders taking a relatively conservative stance, choosing not to increase their long positions and to hedge with additional short positions as BTC’s price increases. It would be instructive to look at readings for the next few days to reach a clear conclusion. 

Figure 4: Bybit’s BTCUSDT Perpetual daily long/short ratio

It's worth noting that the long/short ratio can also be categorized by trader profile, such as the top 100 largest position holders. It can also be viewed under a different time frame, such as one hour or 30 minutes. Each of these parameters may provide different information. We highly recommend users reference multiple data points from different categories to get a more complete picture. 

. We also recommend the following reading:

Options have been one of the most favorite trading products for professionals, especially institutional traders. The flexibility and composability of options enable traders to use complex position setups and strategies. Looking into options trading data may give us a peek at how these professional participants have been setting up their trades.

Understanding OI by Expiration & Strike Price

 in options refers to the number of opened contracts within a specific time frame. Options contracts also have many more parameters than perpetual contracts, and open interest alone can be filtered by types of options, expiration dates, strike prices and much more. Let's take a look at the below examples.

Figure 5a: BTC call options OI by expiration.

Figure 5b: BTC put options OI by expiration.

Figures 5a and 5b (above) show the OI of BTC call and put options by expiration dates. In September 2024, most of the OI, both call and put, was on the contract with a Sep 27, 2024 expiration. Traders seem to have been betting on where BTC will go by the end of the month.

Now, let's look at the strike prices among the OI with the Sep 27, 2024 expiration date. Figure 6a suggests that most of the OI for BTC calls was at $60,000, while Figure 6b indicates that the $40,000 put has the most OI. 

This gives us a price range as a reference, which could mean that options traders who are betting on BTC prices to rise by the end of the month seem to believe that by the expiration date (September 27), BTC will have a chance to hit $60,000 or above. 

In addition, traders have been using relatively 

 (OTM) and less expensive put options to protect their long positions. This could explain why $40,000 has most of the OI.

Figure 6a: BTC call options OI by strike price.

Figure 6b: BTC put options OI by strike price

So, how can this information be interpreted? At the time of this writing, BTC was trading at around $62,000. A $60,000 call option is in-the-money; if someone has a stronger bias toward a positive price action in the short or medium term, they would certainly buy in BTC calls with high strike prices. If there's a noticeable shift of the OI toward high strike prices' call options, that could mean that the positive sentiment of the post-rate cut could still be somewhat sustaining. Otherwise, it could be interpreted as a conservative setup.

To sum up, based on the above-mentioned data, BTC derivatives traders seem to have remained somewhat bullish after the Fed’s rate cut. However, it seems that most participants were cautiously optimistic, without over-leveraging, and perhaps wanted to see more confirmation of a trend reversal before making additional trades.

 page offers comprehensive information on perpetual, futures and options trading data. During 

, the Bybit Learn team will produce articles and analyses based on the contract data to provide additional insight so that users can make more informed trades.

In some ways, exploring derivatives data is similar to walking in the dark: perhaps you’ll be able to see the road just in front of you, but you certainly won't see too far. It’s also like a puzzle in that each piece of data can give you a little information, but you certainly can't see the complete picture with just one piece. Besides, there are many ways to interpret this data, and everyone may have a different interpretation. We encourage users to study derivatives trading in general, and to become familiar with this data.

While learning about derivatives trading (and using data) can be a powerful approach, it also has limitations, and is usually more applicable to blue chip cryptocurrencies.

Learn From Smart Money: Observing Market Sentiment From Derivatives Data

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