BitMEX is the largest unregulated bitcoin derivatives exchange, listing contracts suitable for leverage trading and hedging. Using minute-by-minute data, we examine its price discovery and hedging effectiveness. We find that BitMEX derivatives lead prices on major bitcoin spot exchanges. Bid-ask...

We acquire a unique dataset of high-frequency traded prices for bitcoin call and put options from the Deribit cryptocurrency derivatives exchange, by 15-minute sampling via the application programming interface. We use these prices to construct a term structure of bitcoin implied volatility...

A later version of this paper has been published in the Journal of Financial Stability (Volume 50, October 2020, Article Number 100776).When trading volumes are high, bitcoin futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and -- until recently -- the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) lead...