As crypto derivatives heat up, Thalex’s approachable platform is opening the gates

Since the last U.S. presidential election, crypto has moved from the sidelines of political discourse to being a prominent part of any candidate’s policy. While the approach to crypto across the political spectrum has spanned from unfettered enthusiasm to cautious pragmatism, what was once a niche has become an unavoidable topic.

This shift didn’t come from nowhere. For one, crypto sits at the intersection of tech and finance, which means it absorbs policy angles from economics and innovation alike. Likewise, the industry itself has grown in adoption—with the Federal Reserve estimating that 7 percent of U.S. adults held or used crypto in 2023.

That might not sound like much, but that percentage translates to tens of millions of people who now have a vested interest in crypto happenings.

With that in mind, Q4 of 2024 is shaping up to be a significant quarter for crypto as a whole, but especially so in the crypto options market. Crypto is notoriously volatile and reactive to news developments, and while they may sound off alarm bells for some investors, options traders see a unique opportunity here. Volatility has become attractive to investors turning to options as they can position around events and express views on volatility as opposed to just direction.

However, the growing demand for crypto options requires a better derivatives trading experience for options and futures—one that can meet the needs of investors and traders from any background.

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To answer the call, Thalex, a crypto derivatives exchange offering stablecoin-settled options, is ramping up its go-to-market strategy to become a compelling alternative in the derivatives trading sphere. Founded in 2020, Thalex’s platform enables trading linear, USD₮-settled options, futures, and perpetuals. Since going live in 2023, the platform has processed roughly $1.5 billion in trading volume, primarily from institutional customers.

Its scaling focus builds on this momentum and the announcement of a beta integration with Bitfinex earlier this summer. Thalex’s platform is designed to remove friction in derivatives trading by offering simple specs, fast and reliable tech, and low fees—creating a simple yet powerful derivatives trading experience.

“We built Thalex because we believe that options, futures, and perpetuals are symbiotic and we expect to see significant volume growth across all of these contracts,” says Hendrik Ghys, Co-Founder & CEO of Thalex. “We are close to delivering the customer experience we aimed to realize when we started building Thalex and hope to realize our objective of delivering a frictionless trading experience.”

To date, Thalex has raised $13 million in funding with investors that include Bitfinex, Bitstamp, Flow Traders, IMC, and Wintermute. This funding helps support its scaling ambition and continued development of its platform. Thalex lets traders unlock the power of combining futures and options through native multi-leg order support, universal margin accounts, and portfolio-based margin requirements.

A key differentiator and cornerstone for Thalex is its emphasis on levelling the derivatives trading playing field. Even in traditional financial markets, options and futures are typically viewed as more advanced trading avenues than simple stocks and bonds. The same applies to crypto, which also adds a level of technical and economic complexity.

Aside from the technical aspects of its platform, Thalex broadens its accessibility by following a hybrid distribution strategy. The company leverages direct onboarding for users and integrations with exchanges such as Bitfinex to maximize its reach and simplify onboarding for users to trade on Thalex.

Beyond integrations, Thalex is also bootstrapping liquidity through its Market Quality Program (MQP), designed to directly reward limit orders, regardless of volume, with a $200,000 monthly pool. The program targets both institutional market makers and retail quants. Anyone who posts limit orders is automatically participating and competes on equal footing.

This strategy embodies Thalex’s value of levelling the derivatives trading playing field. The platform subjects all customers to the same standards and provides equal access to incentives, connectivity, and risk management tools.

As crypto continues to move closer to the spotlight as a hot-button policy issue, the migration toward derivatives trading is likely to continue. What platforms like Thalex allow is for anyone to start their journey in the trading world at the same starting line.