FalconX has launched a new Electronic Options platform aimed at modernizing the way institutional investors trade crypto options. The platform, announced on September 29, enables 24/7 electronic trading and offers access to FalconX’s principal liquidity, addressing long-standing inefficiencies in the crypto options market.
According to Griffin Sears, Head of Derivatives at FalconX, crypto options trading has been “fragmented across isolated OTC desks, chat-based RFQs, and limited access to exchange venues.” This fragmentation leads to challenges such as “poor price transparency, manual workflows, and inconsistent execution,” he told Traders Magazine.
FalconX’s approach centers on consolidating liquidity internally rather than aggregating from external exchanges or multiple RFQ networks. According to Sears, this model “eliminates the need to navigate fragmented order books or source quotes across multiple venues,” thereby reducing slippage and enabling more reliable execution. Clients gain direct access to “meaningful size and pricing” from FalconX’s own principal liquidity, which is among the largest in the crypto options market.
A key innovation is the platform’s 24/7 availability. While crypto spot and futures markets have long traded continuously, options trading has largely remained confined to traditional OTC trading hours. Sears said this has limited how institutions can manage risk around the clock.
“Crypto markets don’t sleep — and neither should the risk tools used to hedge them. With 24/7 access, clients can execute delta-neutral or volatility-driven strategies during high-impact weekend events, rebalance exposures around the clock, and capitalize on short-term dislocations without waiting for traditional OTC windows to reopen,” he stressed.
This availability is particularly important for funds with continuous mandates or automated trading strategies, allowing them to maintain consistent pricing and execute strategies across global time zones, he added.
FalconX has also developed a matrix-style strategy builder that differentiates the platform from traditional multi-leg options tools commonly used in equities or FX. Sears described the interface as a “single, visual” environment where traders can “quickly visualize the risk profiles of instruments across strikes” and build multi-leg strategies without switching between different tools. The platform allows setting custom ratios for each leg directly within the matrix, enabling a faster, more intuitive workflow tailored to the high volatility and continuous nature of crypto markets, he said.
According to Sears, the launch coincides with growing institutional demand tied to ETFs and basis arbitrage strategies. As ETFs expand the instruments institutions use to gain crypto exposure, there is a rising need for effective hedging and relative-value trading, Sears noted.
“ETF launches are expanding the set of instruments that institutions use to gain crypto exposure, and with that comes more demand for hedging and relative-value strategies,” he said.
While options on ETFs may develop as a distinct market, FalconX’s platform is designed to provide complementary tools for managing the underlying crypto exposures on which those ETFs are based, he said.
Importantly, Sears said, ETF options trade during standard equity market hours, whereas FalconX’s options platform remains open 24/7, reflecting the continuous nature of crypto markets. This allows clients to manage risk more precisely and supports cross-market strategies, such as combining options and futures to execute basis trades or build relative-value positions across ETF and underlying markets, he said.
At launch, the platform covers options on BTC, ETH, SOL, and HYPE, with plans to support additional altcoins in the future. FalconX’s initiative reflects an effort to close the gap between traditional OTC crypto options trading and the electronic execution models established in other asset classes, Sears said.
Looking ahead, Sears anticipates a structural shift in institutional crypto options trading. “We believe institutional crypto options trading will move from a bespoke, voice-driven market to one where scalable electronic infrastructure underpins growth,” he said. Currently, deep liquidity tends to be concentrated among the largest players trading bilaterally. Over the next two to three years, FalconX expects this quality of execution to become more broadly accessible electronically.
FalconX supports this transition with a platform offering both user interface and API access, enabling institutions to automate strategies, build systematic trading businesses, and integrate options into more sophisticated risk management frameworks. Sears emphasized that the platform is “designed not just to serve today’s market but to be the backbone for how institutional crypto derivatives evolve.”
