September's derivatives story ran in two directions. Venues added regulated plumbing [1][2], while Bitcoin futures leverage fell to a two-year low [3].
The plumbing
The CFTC approved Coinbase Clearing LLC, a USDC-native clearinghouse for 24/7 settlement of crypto derivatives. Coinbase said it completes its regulated derivatives stack [1]. Coinbase Derivatives reported record open interest of $1.6 billion and weekly notional volume above $6 billion as of 22 September [4]. Coinbase also lowered its advanced fee tier and began counting both spot and derivatives volume toward it [5]. It also announced a roughly one-hour pause in non-US perpetual futures on 1 October, for maintenance tied to its Deribit migration [6].
Across the rest of the sector:
- Payward and Hyperliquid: Kraken's parent Payward announced it will offer on-chain perpetual futures to US customers using Hyperliquid [2].
- CME and Hyperliquid: Lark Davis discussed a CME lawsuit against Hyperliquid over how its perpetual futures are classified, which he said could affect US market access [7].
- Binance: Binance announced US stock and ETF options with physical settlement [8]. Ethena announced a partnership with Binance to extend its basis trade into equity perpetuals [9].
- CFTC guidance: The CFTC published updated FAQs on the obligations of registrants that deal in crypto assets [10].
Leverage came off Bitcoin
The trading data ran the other way. A Glassnode chart shared by Coinbase Markets showed the Bitcoin futures leverage ratio at 0.24, its lowest in two years [3]. Glassnode measured coin-denominated open interest down almost 20%, to its lowest since March, while price rose 35% from the August low [11].
Short positions bore much of the reset. Trader_XO shared a report of $648 million of crypto shorts liquidated as Bitcoin broke $85,000 [12]. Glassnode had mapped a dense shelf of short liquidations between $85k and $87.5k [13]. In Ether, positioning leaned toward directional exposure: options open interest stood at about 23% of futures open interest, in the 7th percentile of the past two years [14].
Options positioning shifted over the month:
- Before the Fed decision: one-month 25-delta Bitcoin puts were 1.9 volatility points richer than calls [15].
- Ahead of the 25 September expiry: Bitcoin and Ether options were call-heavy, with max-pain levels of $75,000 for Bitcoin and $2,250 for Ether, both below market prices at the time [16].
Where the reads split
Not every account showed leverage leaving. Coin Bureau's analysis of the rally had futures open interest rising 7.5% [17]. After Bitcoin touched $86k, Glassnode saw long leverage slowly returning in the options market, while perpetual funding stayed below neutral [18]. Nansen profiled a single Hyperliquid account holding about $119 million of long exposure at 11.3x leverage [19].
The structural argument ran on two tracks:
