The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has allowed NYSE Arca to immediately quadruple the position and exercise limits for options linked to BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), raising the cap from 250,000 to 1 million contracts. The rule change, filed under Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act, became effective instantly while the agency continues to seek public comments. NYSE Arca argued that the previous limit no longer matched the surge in trading activity and that the higher ceiling would let market makers manage inventory and hedge more effectively, matching similar adjustments already in place at Nasdaq ISE, Nasdaq PHLX, and BOX Exchange.
The decision lands amidst growing institutional appetite for spot Bitcoin ETFs and follows BlackRock’s 31% year-over-year revenue jump in its fiscal second quarter. In a separate appearance, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said he is no longer worried about excessive leverage in Bitcoin, noting that speculative positions have been washed out and the market now exhibits greater stability. Fink, who once dismissed Bitcoin as “an index of money laundering,” has become a prominent advocate, describing the asset as “digital gold.” He also expressed broad market optimism, predicting that artificial intelligence will drive corporate margins higher over the next 12 months.
