<p>Crypto derivatives exchange Deribit experienced an unusual trend for the first time ever on Monday: Its ether (ETH) options trading volume surpassed that of bitcoin's (BTC's).</p> <p>While the total trading volume for bitcoin options was $879.5 million on Monday, ether's was $1.32 billion, which is 50% more. Options are derivatives contracts that give their holders the right to buy or sell an underlying asset at a stated price within a specified period.</p> <p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-103682" src="https://www.tbstat.com/wp/uploads/2021/05/image-2.png" alt="" width="1778" height="1078" /><span style="font-size: 8pt;">Source: Skew</span></p> <p>Deribit <a href="https://twitter.com/DeribitExchange/status/1389387047622877190?s=20">said</a> it has no opinion on the flip of the trade. But the likely reason is that ETH has significantly outperformed BTC in price over the past several months.</p> <p>ETH's price <a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/103573/ether-eth-price-crosses-3000-first-time">has gained</a> over 1,400% over the past year, while bitcoin's has gained about 550%.</p> <p>On a monthly basis, however, BTC options' trading volume on Deribit is four times higher than ETH's. In April, the exchange saw around $33 billion in BTC options trading volume, while around $8 billion in ETH options. Deribit is the largest bitcoin options exchange, having a market share of over 85%, according to <a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/data/crypto-markets/options/share-of-open-interest-across-bitcoin-options">The Block's Data Dashboard.</a></p> <p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-103687" src="https://www.tbstat.com/wp/uploads/2021/05/image-3.png" alt="" width="1590" height="916" /><span style="font-size: 8pt;">Source: Skew</span></p> <p><a href="https://in.tradingview.com/symbols/BTCUSD/">Bitcoin</a> is currently trading at around $56,000, and <a href="https://in.tradingview.com/symbols/ETHUSD/">ETH</a> is priced at about $3,325, a new all-time high.</p>