Best DeFi Options Protocols in 2026
A hands-on breakdown of the leading decentralized options platforms — what they do, how they differ, and which one fits your trading style.
DeFi options are finally having their moment. After years of being overshadowed by perpetual futures and spot DEXs, onchain options protocols have matured to the point where they're genuinely competitive with centralized alternatives. Portfolio margin, professional market makers, institutional-grade order books, and a growing range of underlying assets have transformed what was once an experimental niche into a legitimate trading venue.
But with multiple protocols approaching the problem from different angles, choosing the right one matters. Here's a detailed look at the best DeFi options protocols in 2026 — what each one does well, where it falls short, and who it's best suited for.
Derive
Chain: Derive Chain (OP Stack rollup on Ethereum)
Assets: BTC, ETH, HYPE, and expanding altcoin coverage
Key features: Order book + AMM hybrid, Portfolio Margin, RFQ for block trades, perpetuals, structured products, multi-asset collateral
Derive (formerly Lyra) is the most established and feature-complete onchain options protocol. Originally launched in 2021 as Lyra on Optimism, it rebranded to Derive in August 2024 and migrated to its own OP Stack rollup — the Derive Chain — for dedicated throughput and lower latency.
What sets Derive apart is the breadth of its offering. It isn't just an options protocol — it's a full derivatives exchange supporting options, perpetuals, spot, and structured products, all unified under a single margin system. The protocol's risk engine handles margin, clearing, liquidations, and settlement onchain, which means everything is verifiable and trustless.
Portfolio Margin is a standout feature. Derive recognizes the risk-reducing nature of hedged positions (spreads, covered calls, delta-neutral strategies) and reduces collateral requirements accordingly. This makes it practical to run sophisticated multi-leg strategies onchain — something that was essentially impossible on earlier DeFi options platforms that required 100% collateralization.
The protocol also supports multi-asset collateral, allowing traders to deposit USDC, ETH, wBTC, stETH, and even HYPE as margin. This flexibility means you don't have to sell your holdings to trade derivatives — you can use them as collateral and maintain your exposure.
Derive's recent integration with HyperEVM brought HYPE as both collateral and an options-tradable asset, making it one of the first platforms where Hyperliquid ecosystem participants can trade HYPE options without moving assets off the Hyperliquid chain.
Who it's for: Traders who want a full-featured, institutional-grade derivatives experience onchain. Ideal for options sellers running income strategies, spread traders who benefit from portfolio margin, and DeFi-native traders who want options on assets (like HYPE) that aren't available on centralized exchanges.
Considerations: Liquidity is growing but still behind centralized venues like Deribit for very large BTC/ETH trades. The RFQ system helps for block-sized orders.
Aevo
Chain: Aevo Rollup (custom EVM rollup on Ethereum)
Assets: BTC, ETH, and select altcoins
Key features: Off-chain order book, on-chain settlement, pre-launch token options
Aevo takes a hybrid approach: it runs an off-chain order book for speed and efficiency, with all settlements happening onchain. This architecture gives it CEX-like responsiveness while maintaining the transparency and settlement guarantees of Ethereum.
Aevo gained attention for offering pre-launch token options — allowing traders to speculate on tokens before they were officially live. This carved out a niche for traders looking for early exposure to new assets. The platform has a clean, professional interface that will feel familiar to anyone who's used Deribit.
Who it's for: Traders who prioritize execution speed and a CEX-like experience within a DeFi wrapper. Good for directional options traders on major assets.
Considerations: The off-chain order book means you're trusting Aevo's infrastructure for order matching, which is less decentralized than fully onchain alternatives. Asset coverage is more limited than some competitors.
Panoptic
Chain: Ethereum, with multi-chain expansion
Assets: Any asset with a Uniswap V3 pool
Key features: Perpetual options, oracle-free, built on top of Uniswap V3 LP positions
Panoptic takes a radically different approach. Instead of traditional options with fixed expiries and strike prices, Panoptic builds perpetual options on top of Uniswap V3 concentrated liquidity positions. The insight is that providing concentrated liquidity in a narrow range on Uniswap is economically equivalent to selling a short put — Panoptic formalizes this equivalence and creates a full options market around it.
The result is oracle-free options that derive their pricing entirely from the underlying Uniswap pool, with instant settlement and no expiration dates. This is conceptually elegant and solves some of the hardest problems in DeFi options — specifically, the reliance on external oracles and the fragmentation of liquidity across multiple expiry dates.
Who it's for: DeFi-native traders and LPs who understand Uniswap V3 mechanics and want to express options-like views without traditional options infrastructure. Particularly interesting for tail-risk hedging and volatility strategies on any Uniswap-listed asset.
Considerations: The perpetual options model is different from what traditional options traders expect. There are no standard Greeks in the conventional sense, and the learning curve is steeper for traders coming from traditional options. Liquidity is dependent on the underlying Uniswap pool.
Derive
Derive Chain (OP Stack rollup on Ethereum)
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Rysk
Derive Chain (OP Stack rollup on Ethereum)
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Opyn (Squeeth)
Chain: Ethereum
Assets: ETH (via Squeeth — squared ETH exposure)
Key features: Power perpetuals, perpetual options exposure without expiry
Opyn was one of the pioneers of DeFi options, launching in 2019. Its most notable innovation is Squeeth (Squared ETH) — a "power perpetual" that provides perpetual exposure to ETH² (ETH squared). In practical terms, Squeeth gives you convex, long-gamma exposure to ETH without the need to manage rolls, expiries, or strike selection.
Buying Squeeth is like holding a perpetual at-the-money straddle: you benefit from volatility in either direction, paying a continuous funding rate (similar to a rolling options premium) to short sellers for this exposure. It's a simplified way to express a volatility view.
Who it's for: Traders who want volatility exposure on ETH without the complexity of managing individual options positions. Useful for hedging concentrated ETH positions or speculating on volatility spikes.
Considerations: Limited to ETH. The power perpetual model is novel but niche — it doesn't give you the precision of choosing strikes and expiries. Funding rates can erode returns during low-volatility periods.
Rysk
Chain: HyperEVM (Hyperliquid ecosystem)
Assets: HYPE-focused
Key features: Volatility income vaults, covered call and cash-secured put strategies, institutional options infrastructure on Hyperliquid
Rysk is a newer entrant that's carving out a specific niche: providing options vault infrastructure on the Hyperliquid ecosystem. Rather than being a full options exchange, Rysk operates as a "volatility income protocol" that enables established options strategies — particularly covered calls and cash-secured puts — to execute fully onchain through automated vaults.
Rysk gained significant attention in early 2026 when Hyperion DeFi (NASDAQ: HYPD), a publicly traded Hyperliquid treasury company, partnered with Rysk to launch institutional-grade options vaults using their HYPE holdings as collateral. This represents one of the first examples of a public company deploying onchain options strategies through DeFi infrastructure.
Who it's for: HYPE holders and Hyperliquid ecosystem participants who want yield-generating options strategies without manually managing positions. Institutional and treasury participants looking for automated, transparent options vaults.
Considerations: Narrow focus on the Hyperliquid ecosystem. Not a general-purpose options exchange — more of a structured products layer.
Thetanuts Finance
Chain: Multi-chain (Ethereum, Arbitrum, BSC, others)
Assets: BTC, ETH, and various altcoins
Key features: Options vaults, automated yield strategies, structured product focus
Thetanuts focuses on making options accessible through pre-packaged vault strategies. Rather than requiring users to understand options pricing and Greeks, Thetanuts offers vaults that automatically run yield-generating strategies like covered calls and put selling. Users deposit assets, and the vault handles the rest.
This "vault-first" approach lowers the barrier to entry for options-based yield generation. Thetanuts has expanded across multiple chains and supports a wider range of assets than most options-focused protocols.
Who it's for: Passive yield seekers who want options-based returns without active management. Good for users who understand the risk-return profile of selling options but don't want to manage positions manually.
Considerations: Vault strategies are pre-defined — you can't customize strikes, expiries, or position sizing the way you can on a full options exchange. Returns depend on market conditions and can underperform in strongly trending markets (when covered calls cap your upside).
How to Choose
Your choice depends on what you're trying to do:
If you want the most complete onchain options trading experience — with an order book, portfolio margin, multi-leg strategies, and a growing list of assets — Derive is the clear leader. It's the closest thing to a professional options exchange that exists in DeFi.
If you prioritize execution speed and want a CEX-like feel, Aevo is worth a look, though you give up some decentralization with its off-chain order book.
If you're a DeFi-native builder or LP who thinks in terms of Uniswap positions and AMM mechanics, Panoptic offers a genuinely novel approach to options that doesn't exist anywhere else.
If you just want volatility exposure on ETH without managing complex positions, Opyn's Squeeth is the simplest entry point.
If you hold HYPE and want yield-generating strategies automated for you, Rysk or Derive (which supports HYPE natively) are your best options.
If you want passive, vault-based options yield across multiple chains, Thetanuts makes it easy.
The Bigger Picture
DeFi options are still early. Decentralized platforms account for a small fraction of total crypto options volume, with the vast majority still flowing through Deribit (soon to be integrated with Coinbase). But the trajectory is unmistakable: the infrastructure is improving, liquidity is growing, and the unique advantages of DeFi — self-custody, composability, permissionless access, and transparency — are attracting traders who value those properties.
The crypto options market itself is expanding rapidly. Options currently make up roughly 3% of the total crypto derivatives market, compared to traditional finance where options volumes exceed spot volumes. If crypto options grow to even a fraction of that relative size, the opportunity for DeFi options protocols is enormous.
The protocols listed here represent the frontier of that opportunity. Whether you're an active trader, a yield seeker, or a builder looking to compose options into new products, there's never been a better time to explore DeFi options.