Time-of-day effects in the Bitcoin options market

Abstract

Using a comprehensive dataset from Deribit, we show that Bitcoin options trading activity is concentrated around two distinct intraday periods: 8:00–9:00 GMT and 14:00–15:00 GMT, relative to other hours of the day. The latter peak coincides with the opening of the New York Stock Exchange and is largely absent on weekends, suggesting spillovers from traditional equity markets to the Bitcoin options market. In contrast, the concentration of trading activity around the 8:00–9:00 GMT period appears to be driven by investors rolling over and re-establishing expiring options around the 8:00 GMT settlement, as this effect persists on both weekdays and weekends, and is stronger on days with more expiring contracts and for contracts with shorter maturities. These findings highlight how institutional trading conventions shape intraday activity in cryptocurrency derivatives and provide the first systematic evidence of intraday patterns in Bitcoin options trading.