Tether Gold now has a dedicated options market on Bybit

Tether Gold now has a dedicated options market on Bybit

Markets

Tether Gold now has a dedicated options market on Bybit

These options, settled in USDT, let traders hedge risk, speculate on gold prices.

By

Omkar Godbole

|

Edited by

Shaurya Malwa

Updated

Jun 16, 2026, 6:23 a.m.

Published

Jun 16, 2026, 5:52 a.m.

2

min read

Make

preferred on

Share

Share this article

Copy link

X icon

X (Twitter)

LinkedIn

Facebook

Email

Make

preferred on

Bybit offers options tied to tether gold. (Scottsdale Mint/Unsplash/Modified by CoinDesk)

Summary

Show

Bybit has launched options trading on Tether Gold (XAUT).

These options, settled in USDT, let traders hedge risk, speculate on gold prices.

Bybit has partnered with options market maker Orbit Markets to ensure institutional-grade liquidity.

Bybit, one of the world’s top cryptocurrency exchanges by trading volume, has

launched

options trading on Tether Gold (XAUT), a token

that provides

you ownership of real physical gold.

The XAUT options are now live and allow traders to hedge risk, speculate on gold price movements, trade volatility, and build custom strategies through Bybit’s Request for Quote (RFQ) system for over-the-counter (OTC) deals.

Bybit partnered with Orbit Markets, a leading crypto options market maker, to ensure deep liquidity from the start. Orbit’s team brings significant expertise, including former senior executives from precious metals trading desks, notably the ex-APAC Head of Currencies and Precious Metals at Deutsche Bank.

“As tokenization accelerates, we believe the distinction between crypto and TradFi will continue to narrow,” said Jimmy Yang, co-founder of Orbit Markets. “Gold options are a cornerstone of traditional derivatives markets, and we are excited to see growing interest in TradFi derivatives within crypto.”

The XAUT options are European-style contracts settled in dollar-pegged stablecoin USDT, with each options contract corresponding to one XAUT token, which itself represents one troy ounce of physical gold.

What Are Options?

Options are derivative contracts that give the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell the underlying asset at a set price before or on a specific date. A call option gives the right to buy, while a put option gives the right to sell.

Think of it like paying a small fee (the premium) for the right to buy a property at today’s price in the future. If the price rises, you can still buy at the lower agreed price. If it falls, you can walk away and only lose the premium. That’s a call. A put works in the opposite direction.

Traders primarily use options to hedge directional risk or to express views on volatility.

Market size

The global gold options market is already a multi-billion-dollar industry, dominated by exchanges like the CME and India’s MCX, with a large portion of volume traded OTC.

Bybit’s launch brings this established asset class on-chain for the first time on a major crypto platform.

XAUT options have been available on smaller platforms like CoinCall since November 2024, but Bybit’s entry marks the first time a top-tier exchange has offered them with institutional-grade liquidity support.

Tether

Latest Crypto News

1

Live markets: Bitcoin rebounds to nearly $60,000. Kospi, Nikkei sink

44 minutes ago

2

Asset management giant Invesco files for tokenized fund targeting stablecoin reserve market

9 hours ago

3

Coinbase's Base blockchain resumes after two-hour outage disrupted network

11 hours ago

4

Strategy's yield-generating STRC stock is more correlated with BTC than ever

12 hours ago

5

Kraken in talks to buy 15% stake in DeFi lender Aave at $385 million valuation

12 hours ago

6

a16z-backed crypto firm rebrands, shifts focus to solving AI’s global copyright headache

12 hours ago

7

BlackBerry is making a massive comeback as an 'uncrashable' software layer for AI and robotics

13 hours ago

8

Strategy has a 10-month cash runway for dividends, but retail investors are losing faith

14 hours ago

9

Quant fund says bitcoin is near a major inflection point as rare onchain signals align

14 hours ago

10

Bitcoin tumbles to new multi-year low of $58,000, but a short-squeeze setup emerges

14 hours ago

Latest Research

CEX Volumes Drop to Lowest Since September 2024 as RWA Perps Hit Record High

CEX Volumes Drop to Lowest Since September 2024 as RWA Perps Hit Record High

In May, combined exchange volumes fell 3.45% to $4.41T; the lowest since September 2024. RWA perpetual futures volumes rose 10.4% against the trend, hitting a new all-time high.

By

CoinDesk Research

Jun 15, 2026

In May, combined exchange volumes fell 3.45% to $4.41T; the lowest since September 2024. RWA perpetual futures volumes rose 10.4% against the trend, hitting a new all-time high.

Why it matters

:

In May, combined exchange volumes fell 3.45% to $4.41T; the lowest since September 2024. RWA perpetual futures volumes rose 10.4% against the trend, hitting a new all-time high.

View Full Report

More From

Markets

Ether, XRP and dogecoin lead a broad crypto selloff as tech stocks tumble

Strategy's yield-generating STRC stock is more correlated with BTC than ever

BlackBerry is making a massive comeback as an 'uncrashable' software layer for AI and robotics

CD20

$1,602.34

CD20 down 3.39 percent

3.39%

BTC

$59,825.57

BTC down 2.75 percent

2.75%

ETH

$1,553.65

ETH down 5.47 percent

5.47%

XRP

$1.03

XRP down 4.78 percent

4.78%

SOL

$68.27

SOL down 0.97 percent

0.97%