The New York Stock Exchange completes the lifting of industry-wide cryptocurrency ETF option caps

On March 23, NYSEArca and NYSEAmerican, a subsidiary of the New York Stock Exchange, submitted rule changes to the SEC to cancel the 25,000 contract position and exercise limits for spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF options. The U.S. SEC waived the standard 30-day waiting period in the two documents, making the changes effective immediately after submission, marking that all major U.S. options exchanges have completed the adjustment. The rule change covers 11 crypto ETF products, including BlackRock IBIT, Fidelity FBTC, ARK21 SharesARKB, Grayscale Bitcoin and Ethereum Trust, and Bitwise's Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs. These products can now determine position limits based on the standard framework of each exchange, and large liquidity ETFs can receive a limit of 250,000 or more. This will help institutional investors implement hedging strategies and basis trading more efficiently. In addition, the Nasdaq ISE Exchange has submitted a proposal to increase the IBIT exclusive options position limit to 1 million contracts, which is still under review by the US SEC. Once approved, the proposal would bring IBIT's holdings closer to those of the largest equity ETFs. The consultation period for relevant documents will end on April 13.