NEW YORK (Reuters) – Options on Coinbase Global Inc started trading on Tuesday, less than a week after the U.S. cryptocurrency exchange’s closely watched market debut on Nasdaq.
Monthly options contracts on Coinbase shares started trading for the first time on all U.S. options exchanges, including ones run by Cboe Global Markets, the Nasdaq and the Intercontinental Exchange, on Tuesday.
Nearly 1,000 Coinbase options contracts changed hands in the first 10 minutes of trading, with calls outnumbering puts slightly, data from options analytics firm Trade Alert showed.
Puts convey the right to sell the stock at a set price at a future date, while calls provide the right to buy it at a certain price at a date down the road.
A surge of interest in retail trading over the last year has sent a rush of volume to U.S. equity options markets over the last several months as traders look to speculate on the direction of heavily traded stocks.
(Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
