BTC · live

Spread map

Spot —
As of —
Bid-ask spread as a percentage of mid price, out-of-the-money leg. Percentage spread naturally widens for cheap, far-dated or near-expiry contracts even when the market is functioning normally — a $0.50 spread on a $1 option is 50%, the same $0.50 spread on a $600 option is under 0.1%. Read the tier, not the raw number, for short-dated strikes.
Tight (≤5%) Workable (5-20%) Avoid (>20%)
ATM spread by expiry
Spread by strike, out-of-the-money leg
Surface — strike (moneyness) × expiry, by tier

Why the bid-ask spread matters

The bid-ask spread is the gap between the best price a buyer will pay and the best price a seller will accept for a given option. A wide spread means the market for that strike is thin — you'd give up a meaningful chunk of the position's value just entering and exiting, even before the market moves. A tight spread means the strike is liquid enough to trade at close to fair value.

This matters more for BTC options than for equity index options, since even Deribit's most-traded venue has far less depth than NIFTY's option chain — knowing which strikes are actually tradeable, versus which just look tradeable on a chain listing, changes which strategies are practical.

How to read this page

  • Tight (≤5%) — liquid enough to enter and exit without a meaningful cost from the spread alone.
  • Workable (5–20%) — tradeable, but the spread itself is a real cost worth factoring into position sizing.
  • Avoid (>20%) — thin enough that a market order can cost significantly more than the mid price; limit orders and patience matter here.

Spread is measured as a percentage of mid price, on the out-of-the-money leg (puts below spot, calls above) — the side of the chain actually worth quoting a spread on. Percentage spread naturally widens for cheap, far-dated, or near-expiry contracts even in a normally functioning market: a $0.50 spread on a $1 option is 50%, the same $0.50 spread on a $600 option is under 0.1%. Read the tier, not the raw percentage, for short-dated or deep out-of-the-money strikes.

Methodology & data

Spread is pulled directly from Deribit's live order book (best bid, best ask) on every strike and expiry — not modeled or estimated. Tiers (tight/workable/avoid) are calibrated against the live book's actual behavior: near-dated deep-OTM strikes structurally run 40-140% (the premium itself is a couple of dollars, so any absolute spread is a huge percentage) while liquid longer-dated ATM strikes typically sit at 1-3%.

What is a good bid-ask spread for BTC options?

Under 5% of mid price is considered tight and liquid. 5-20% is workable but costs more to trade. Above 20% usually means the strike is thin — common on deep out-of-the-money or near-expiry contracts.

Why do cheap options show huge percentage spreads?

Because percentage spread is spread-in-dollars divided by mid price. A fixed $0.50 spread is enormous on a $1 option (50%) but negligible on a $600 option (under 0.1%) — the same absolute liquidity looks very different in percentage terms depending on the premium.

Where does this spread data come from?

Deribit's live order book — the best bid and best ask actually posted, not a modeled or historical estimate.

Which leg does this track — call or put?

The out-of-the-money leg at each strike: puts below spot, calls above. That's the side of the chain that's conventionally quoted and actually worth trading.