- Bybit will launch options on SpaceX and Nvidia stock perpetuals on Sept. 17.
- Contracts will trade 24/7 and settle profits and losses in USDT.
- Fractional lots remove the conventional 100-share options contract size.
- Tesla, QQQ, SOXL and Micron are among the underlyings planned next.
Bybit is taking a market structure built around crypto and applying it to U.S. equity exposure. The exchange announced that Perp Options, which it describes as the industry’s first options contracts based on stock perpetuals, will launch on Sept. 17 at 8 p.m. UTC with contracts tied to SpaceX (SPCX) and Nvidia (NVDA).
Unlike conventional U.S. equity options, the products will remain tradable 24 hours a day, seven days a week and settle in USDT.
The more significant development is not simply that another exchange is adding stock-linked products. Bybit is combining an equity reference with the trading conventions of crypto derivatives: continuous markets, stablecoin settlement, fractional contract sizes and a unified margin account.
These Are Not Conventional Options on Nvidia or SpaceX Shares
The product structure requires an important distinction.
Bybit’s new contracts are options on stock perpetuals, rather than conventional exchange-listed options giving holders rights over the underlying U.S. shares. The perpetual contract provides the equity-linked price exposure, while the option adds another derivatives layer on top of that reference.
That distinction is particularly relevant for SpaceX.
SpaceX is not a conventional publicly listed stock, although Bybit has already offered tokenized exposure to the company through the xStocks framework. Its SPCXx product is designed to provide economic exposure to SpaceX equity through tokens backed 1:1 by underlying shares held within the relevant custody structure. Token holders receive economic exposure but are not registered SpaceX shareholders and do not receive direct voting rights.
The new SPCX options therefore should not be interpreted as SpaceX itself listing equity options.
For Nvidia, the underlying reference is easier to understand because NVDA already trades publicly. The structural difference remains: traders are accessing an option linked to Bybit’s stock-perpetual market rather than entering the conventional U.S. listed-options system.
Bybit Removes Two Constraints Built Into Traditional Options
The product changes both when an equity-linked option can trade and how much exposure a trader needs to take.
Traditional U.S. equity options generally operate around established exchange sessions, while a standard contract typically represents 100 shares of the underlying stock.
Bybit is removing both conventions.
Its Perp Options will use a multiplier of one, allowing traders to take fractional-sized exposure without the 100-share minimum associated with standard equity options. At the same time, trading remains open through nights and weekends.
For a high-priced or volatile underlying, that changes the capital requirement considerably. A trader does not need to construct exposure around a block of 100 shares simply because the options-market convention requires it.
The 24/7 structure addresses a different problem: information does not follow exchange hours.
An earnings-related development, geopolitical event or major corporate announcement can occur when U.S. equity options markets are closed. Crypto markets already allow traders to react immediately to comparable events involving Bitcoin or Ethereum. Bybit is attempting to extend that continuous hedging model to equity-linked derivatives.
There is a trade-off. A market being open continuously does not guarantee equivalent liquidity continuously.
Overnight and weekend sessions may have thinner order books, potentially creating wider spreads and greater price dislocations when the reference cash equity market itself is closed.
USDT Becomes the Settlement Layer for an Equity Derivative
Settlement is another place where the product crosses the boundary between traditional and crypto markets.
Bybit says Perp Options will settle in USDT, meaning traders calculate profits and losses in the stablecoin rather than receiving stock or another token.
The initial structure combines several features:
- 24/7 trading: Positions can be traded outside conventional U.S. market hours and through weekends.
- Fractional lots: A multiplier of one removes the standard 100-share contract requirement.
- USDT settlement: P&L is settled in a dollar-pegged stablecoin rather than the referenced asset.
- Portfolio Margin: Traders can hedge positions across the portfolio to potentially reduce margin requirements.
- Strategy support: Bybit says the platform will support spreads, straddles, covered calls and both long and short option positions.
- Unified account access: Spot, futures and options positions can be managed through Bybit’s Unified Trading Account.
The result is effectively a crypto-native derivatives stack applied to equity-linked price exposure.
Rather than moving capital between a securities broker, options account and crypto exchange, eligible traders can potentially manage several forms of exposure through the same collateral environment.
SpaceX May Be the More Important Test
Nvidia gives Bybit access to one of the world’s most actively followed technology stocks, but SpaceX illustrates more clearly what this model can do differently from established equity-options markets.
Private companies do not have the same continuously accessible price discovery as listed stocks. Investors who want exposure are normally constrained by private-market eligibility, available shares and specialized secondary-market structures.
Tokenization has begun creating alternatives.
Bybit’s earlier SpaceX offering through xStocks provides tokenized economic exposure to underlying shares.
Adding derivatives on top of stock-perpetual exposure takes that model another step: the exchange is attempting to build an options market around an asset that does not have a conventional public stock-options market in the first place.
That could make SPCX a more consequential experiment than NVDA.
If sufficient liquidity develops, tokenization would no longer be limited to making an otherwise difficult-to-access asset tradable. It could support an additional derivatives layer through which traders hedge, speculate on volatility or construct multi-leg strategies around that exposure.
The challenge is price discovery. Nvidia has an observable public share price during U.S. trading hours. Private-company valuations are inherently less transparent, making the methodology and liquidity behind the reference market particularly important.
24/7 Trading Creates a New Weekend Price-Discovery Problem
Continuous trading is easy to describe as an advantage, but it introduces an unusual question for equity-linked derivatives.
What happens at 2 a.m. Sunday when the underlying U.S. stock market is closed?
For Nvidia-linked products, the primary equity market cannot continuously provide a live reference price.
Traders in a 24/7 derivative must instead establish a market based on available information, expectations about where NVDA will reopen and the pricing methodology supporting the perpetual contract.
That creates the possibility of a weekend risk premium.
Suppose significant Nvidia news arrives on Saturday. Bybit traders could immediately reprice the stock perpetual and its options, while Nasdaq-listed Nvidia shares remain closed. Implied volatility could rise, calls or puts could reprice and the crypto venue could effectively produce an early market estimate of Monday’s opening move.
When traditional markets reopen, the relationship reverses: the cash equity market provides a much deeper source of price discovery against which the continuously traded derivative can converge.
That makes Bybit’s experiment relevant beyond crypto traders. If volume becomes meaningful, stock perpetuals could begin acting as an off-hours indication of how markets expect certain U.S. securities to reopen.
Tesla and QQQ Could Make the Model More Significant
Bybit is treating SpaceX and Nvidia as the first phase rather than a standalone launch.
The exchange says future Perp Options underlyings will include Tesla (TSLA), the Nasdaq-100 tracking QQQ
ETF, Direxion’s semiconductor leveraged ETF SOXL and Micron Technology (MU), with additional markets planned.
That lineup suggests the platform is initially targeting assets already popular with highly active retail traders rather than attempting to recreate the entire U.S. options market.
The approach also provides a test of demand across different exposures. Nvidia and Micron offer individual semiconductor names, Tesla brings another heavily traded technology stock, while QQQ provides broad Nasdaq exposure. SOXL adds an already leveraged underlying to the mix.
If trading develops beyond the initial contracts, Bybit could gradually build something structurally different from either a crypto exchange or a conventional options broker: a stablecoin-settled, continuously operating derivatives venue for tokenized and synthetic traditional assets.
The first meaningful evidence will arrive after Sept. 17. Contract volumes, bid-ask spreads and weekend liquidity will show whether 24/7 equity options solve an actual market-access problem or simply extend trading hours into periods when few participants are willing to provide meaningful liquidity.
Source: https://www.crypto-news-flash.com/bybit-takes-stock-options-beyond-wall-streets-trading-clock/
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