Nasdaq filed a rule change with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Jan. 7 to remove options contract limits on spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs (filed a rule change). It removes options limits on spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs, aligning rules with other commodity funds.
The proposal eliminates a 25,000-contract cap on ETF options. Affected products include ETFs from BlackRock, Fidelity, Bitwise, Grayscale, ARK/21Shares and VanEck.
The SEC waived its standard 30-day waiting period, letting the change take effect immediately (Ed. note: the agency kept the power to suspend the change within 60 days). The agency opened a comment period and expects a final determination by late February unless it suspends the rule.
Nasdaq said the change would let the exchange treat digital assets like other options, arguing it would remove unequal treatment without harming investor protection, saying “in the same manner as all other options that qualify for listing,”. Late in 2025 Nasdaq had gained approval to list options on single-asset crypto ETFs, but existing position and exercise limits then remained.
Nasdaq has also sought higher limits for some products, filing in November to raise position caps on BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust from 250,000 contracts to 1 million. The exchange has expanded crypto efforts, including a plan announced in January to rebrand its crypto benchmark as the Nasdaq-CME Crypto Index, and it operates as a US stock exchange operator that runs electronic markets; its head of digital assets, Matt Savarese, discussed tokenization and strategy in an interview (an interview).
