Circle's NYSE debut under ticker CRCL saw its stock triple the $31 IPO price, triggering multiple trading halts due to volatility. 

Daily top performer — TRON Network (TRX)

The S&P 500 fell 0.53% as labor data weakened and Trump’s clash with Musk dragged Tesla shares down 14.3%. Gold holds above $3,350 as traders await US jobs data. A weak NFP could boost prices, while strong numbers may weigh on the metal. Bullish trend remains intact above key support. The Coindesk Indices, which tracks the broader crypto market, fell 4.90%, with Bitcoin and Ether down 2.94% and 7.90%, respectively in the past 24 hours. Trade these markets and more with up to 500x leverage on Bybit MT5 using this 

Today’s top performer is TRX, up 1.4% after AEON integrated TRON to enable seamless in-store crypto payments across Southeast Asia.

TRON Network (TRX), founded in 2017, is a fast, low-fee blockchain platform for dApps, smart contracts, and digital content sharing. Governed by TRON DAO, it uses its native token TRX for transactions and governance, aiming to empower creators and users by removing intermediaries. AEON has 

 the TRON network to enable seamless in-store payments using TRX, USDT, and USDD via AEON Pay. This move expands TRON's utility across 20 million merchants in Southeast Asia and supports AEON’s mission to make crypto payments fast, affordable, and widely accessible in real-world retail settings.

Check out the latest prices, charts, and data of 

 under ticker CRCL saw its stock triple the $31 IPO price, triggering multiple trading halts due to volatility. The USDC issuer, now a public company with a $61B market cap stablecoin, raised $1.1B after an oversubscribed IPO. The surge reflects growing institutional belief in stablecoins as core to modern finance, as Circle positions itself ahead of central bank digital currency competition.

Yesterday, BTC spot ETFs saw $278.4M in net outflows, with $254.3M from non-GBTC funds and $24.1M from GBTC.

 is a new AI-powered crypto assistant that lets users perform tasks like swaps, transfers, and portfolio tracking using natural language commands — no smart wallet setup required. The platform recently raised $3M and launched a points program, which could lead to a future airdrop. Users earn points by interacting with the AI, completing tasks, and optionally minting an NFT from its official collection.

Beginner

4.png

Circle soars on NYSE debut as CRCL triples IPO price amid stablecoin optimism

Space and Time (SXT) offers real-time blockchain data access with ZK-proof integrity, enabling fast, secure SQL queries across on-chain and off-chain data.

Blockchain networks contain incredible amounts of data that may provide valuable insights for analysis and serve as inputs for apps, databases and analytics platforms. Unfortunately, data held in decentralized ledgers is mostly unstructured and expensive to access, and might not be verified for accuracy. For instance, when blockchain validators approve transaction blocks based on the respective consensus model used by the network, they simply confirm the correct format of the data. 

In order to enhance the accuracy and validity of such data, the blockchain industry has implemented a range of solutions, including 

. Unfortunately, standard ZK technology may involve complex data processing, and can become computationally expensive and poorly scalable. Even when implemented efficiently, ZK proofs don’t make blockchain data more accessible, though they do ensure data integrity and security.

Space and Time (SXT) is a decentralized platform that aspires to become a unified, structured warehouse of on-chain and off-chain data, enabling easy, quick and inexpensive access supported by ZK-proven data validation. The platform sources data from numerous blockchains and Web 2.0 systems, generates and stores cryptographic references for the data, organizes it in the standard relational database format and lets external sources — including data-driven applications and smart contracts — query it using the good ol’ SQL, a database query tool ubiquitously known in the developer and analyst communities. 

 modular decentralized network that acts as an enormous warehouse of on-chain and off-chain data from various sources.

 It securely pulls and indexes external data for easy access by 

 (DApps), protocols, enterprise systems and other platforms requiring flexible and efficient data usage. 

The Space and Time blockchain features cross-chain connectivity to several decentralized networks for data collection, including Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin (BTC), ZKSync, 

 (POL), Sui (SUI) and Avalanche (AVAX). Web 2.0 systems and databases can also be used as off-chain data sources for the platform. 

Space and Time acquires on-chain and off-chain data, assigns cryptographic digital fingerprint references and securely stores the signed references. This ensures that any data you access via the platform is verified and can be obtained efficiently and inexpensively.

Developers and apps can run standard SQL queries on the data that Space and Time stores and organizes to feed it into their own systems or on-chain smart contracts, thus creating various use case opportunities to use the platform.

One potential use case is the tokenization of 

 (RWAs) into dynamic NFTs. Let’s say a real estate property is tokenized to be represented on-chain by an NFT that records its key parameters — market value, sale history, last renovation date and current rental income. As the parameters are updated in the real estate database connected to Space and Time, the updates are pulled in by the blockchain, verified cryptographically and sent to the NFT smart contract for relevant changes to the token’s dynamic values. 

Space and Time can also be used for enterprise auditing purposes. Auditors and regulators can run queries on the financial data uploaded by a business entity via Space and Time, knowing that the data has been verified for authenticity and accuracy, thanks to the platform’s use of cryptographic proofs.

 projects to automatically query Space and Time for necessary data to pull into their own applications, databases or smart contracts. The platform's use of the standard SQL format greatly simplifies the creation of such query agents and bots.

Space and Time has developed Proof of SQL™, a variation of ZK cryptographic proofs, to securely validate the authenticity and correctness of sourced data (which we'll touch upon later).

The Space and Time blockchain’s modular design features three specialized node types: Indexers, Validators and Provers. These nodes coordinate their work in order to complete the entire life cycle of data sourcing, validation, cryptographic reference storage and query retrieval. 

The entire process — from “ingesting” data to generating the final results for user queries — is based on 

Space and Time acts as a giant decentralized data warehouse that many entities across both the web3 and Web 2.0 domains can use to ensure they access structured and verified data. The primary records in the warehouse are tables that contain cryptographic references to the actual on-chain and off-chain data, which can be queried in a secure, scalable and efficient manner. 

Typical blockchain records on most networks represent vast piles of unstructured data from which it’s difficult to cross-verify or derive insights. Using Space and Time's data warehouse, apps and smart contracts can efficiently extract exactly what they need without combing the unstructured records held by numerous blockchains and Web 2.0 databases.

 is a custom-built, high-performance cryptographic proof. It attests that specific SQL queries have been executed in a valid and consistent way. Unlike generic ZK proofs, which confirm data’s validity without revealing all of its internal details, Proof of SQL proves that the results you get based on your query are exactly what you've requested. As a sub-second ZK coprocessor, Proof of SQL can aggregate and verify analytics over millions of rows within less than a second.

Developers can use Proof of SQL to generate cryptographic proofs from any SQL-compatible data source — centralized or decentralized — and return those proofs to smart contracts (on-chain) or external verifiers (off-chain).

, a Layer 1 network designed specifically to act as a tamperproof data repository. Together with its cryptographic proof mechanism (Proof of SQL) and the trio of node types, Space and Time’s blockchain creates opportunities for real-time data queries, updates and verifications for 

 management solutions, audit systems and other applications. 

In essence, any protocol, smart contract or app that requires quick access to data it doesn’t internally possess can benefit from using the SXT Chain.

ZK-based validation systems often have computational overheads that make them less than ideal for certain apps requiring quick data access for running front-end analytics or on-chain data queries. For such use cases, Space and Time offers a custom product, Managed DB via APIs, that enables running optimistically validated queries on blockchain data. Thanks to optimistic validation, it’s even more efficient to execute these queries and deliver results. 

A set of APIs facilitates efficient queries of underlying data via the Managed DB. The product lets you access all of the data held by the SXT Chain, as well as indexed blockchain data from numerous mainnet and testnet platforms.

Space and Time Studio. an easy-to-use platform that offers an AI-powered interface to develop SQL queries, uses natural language prompts. Users unfamiliar with SQL can easily generate queries by specifying their requirements to the AI tool.

 platform allows developers to simulate various tokenomics models, forecast their tokens’ performance and develop detailed analytics and dashboards related to their tokens’ economies. The platform acts as a simulation environment in which aspiring token issuers can model various elements of tokenomics, such as buybacks, burning models, staking, vesting and more.

Users can add and remove tokenomics elements. or adjust them to find optimal models. Price forecasts are generated by Space and Tokens to guide users on the possible outcomes of selecting specific tokenomics features. The platform even offers templates for token economies based on the parameters of distinguished and successful crypto projects, such as 

What is the Space and Time crypto token (SXT)?

The platform's native token, SXT, is designed for several key functions. One of these is staking. Validators stake the token to secure the right to perform their duties on the platform and earn staking rewards in SXT. The SXT Chain supports stake delegation — i.e., anyone who doesn't want to set up and run a validator node can delegate their SXT tokens to their chosen validator and earn a share of the staking rewards.

The platform's users — apps, external databases, smart contracts, oracles, analysts and any other entity that pulls data from Space and Time — pay to run their queries in SXT tokens.

Data publishers can earn SXT tokens by making their datasets available on Space and Time for other users to query. 

The project's white paper also specifies that SXT will be used for governance, with token holders voting on the platform's future direction and changes to it. 

SXT has a total and maximum supply of 5 billion tokens. The chart below shows its supply allocation shares.

Where to buy the Space and Time crypto token (SXT)

The SXT token is available on Bybit’s Spot market as a swap pair with the USDT stablecoin (

). You can also use the token for trading via Bybit’s 

, which allows you to automate your grid trading strategy to capitalize on asset price fluctuations by buying low and selling high at predetermined price points.

As of Jun 6, 2025, the SXT token has been on the market for nearly a month. It’s currently trading at $0.09376, a 42.3% drop from its all-time high of $0.1621 on May 8, 2025.

SXT’s long-term price outlook is quite bullish.DigitalCoinPrice 

 at $0.31 by 2027 and $0.49 by 2030, whilePricePrediction is 

Space and Time’s modular decentralized network has taken on an essential role in the blockchain industry. While popular blockchains store enormous amounts of data, few platforms currently act as centralized depositories in which this data may be indexed, stored, accessed or cross-verified. At the same time, the need for such a structured, easily accessible and industry-wide repository is evident — and the Space and Time network provides a viable solution. 

As more data moves to blockchain, Space and Time’s core service will prove increasingly relevant for analysts, developers, DApp operators, enterprises still reliant upon Web 2.0 systems and countless others who may use SQL to source both on-chain and off-chain data. 

Space and Time crypto.png

Space and Time (SXT): Real-time blockchain data with ZK integrity

Ditto is a liquid staking protocol built on Aptos that issues stAPT tokens to users who stake APT. Learn more here.

 infrastructure, but its native staking creates barriers that exclude everyday users from earning rewards. Traditional staking locks tokens indefinitely, demands technical expertise for validator operation and lacks delegation options for smaller holders.

Ditto addresses these limitations through its innovative 

 that transforms the way users interact with Aptos staking. This article examines Ditto's approach to flexible staking, the mechanics behind stAPT tokens and 

the opportunities Ditto creates for yield-seeking investors.

 protocol built on Aptos that issues stAPT tokens to users who stake APT. It transforms traditional staking from an illiquid commitment into a flexible investment that generates yields while stAPT tokens remain fully tradeable across the Aptos ecosystem.

stAPT is a yield-bearing token that users receive when staking APT through Ditto's liquid staking protocol. Each stAPT token represents a claim on the underlying staked APT, plus accumulated staking rewards within Ditto's validator pool.

Starting at a 1:1 ratio with APT, the stAPT exchange rate increases every epoch as staking rewards accumulate, allowing holders to redeem progressively more APT over time. The token addresses traditional staking's liquidity issue by remaining fully tradable and usable across Aptos DeFi while generating staking yields.

DTO is Ditto's governance token, which will enable decentralized control of the protocol while aligning incentives across users, validators and ecosystem partners. The token facilitates governance participation and helps bootstrap network effects to establish stAPT as the base token of Aptos DeFi.

With a planned initial supply of 1 billion tokens, DTO currently has no fixed launch date. Early users can participate in Ditto's pre-mining program to earn DTO discount tokens, which offer 50% discounts on future DTO purchases once the token becomes available.

Ditto was founded by a team whose focus was on solving Aptos staking limitations that prevented broader user participation. The founders recognized that native staking's illiquidity, high validator requirements and lack of delegation support created barriers for everyday users wanting to contribute to network security.

The project emerged from the belief that liquid staking would significantly benefit the Aptos ecosystem by democratizing access to staking rewards. By removing technical barriers and capital requirements, Ditto enables any APT holder to participate in network validation while maintaining their tokens’ liquidity.

Ditto tackles critical limitations that prevent broader participation in Aptos staking. Native staking locks tokens without liquidity, requires substantial capital for validator operation and demands technical expertise that excludes everyday users from earning staking rewards.

Beyond solving these immediate barriers, Ditto envisions stAPT becoming the foundational token for all Aptos DeFi activities. The protocol aims to transform the way users interact with the Aptos ecosystem by providing a liquid, yield-generating asset that maintains all the utility of native APT.

Ditto provides multiple pathways for users to stake, unstake and trade stAPT according to their specific needs and time preferences. It combines direct protocol interactions with broader DeFi integration to ensure maximum flexibility and liquidity for all participants.

Users stake APT tokens through Ditto's interface to receive stAPT at the current exchange rate, which offers an approximately 7% annual yield as of June 2025. The staked APT joins Ditto's validator network, where professional node operators handle the technical aspects of validation while users earn rewards passively.

Ditto charges a 10% fee on staking rewards, which is split between the protocol treasury and validators. This fee structure aligns incentives by compensating validators for their services while funding protocol development and ecosystem partnerships.

Ditto provides instant unstaking through a dedicated APT pool reserved specifically for immediate withdrawals. Users can instantly convert stAPT back to APT by paying a fee, although this service depends upon pool availability and may become temporarily unavailable if the pool is depleted. This feature ensures stAPT maintains high liquidity and fungibility with APT, thereby supporting healthy DeFi integration across the ecosystem. 

The instant unstaking option proves critical for maintaining stAPT's utility in time-sensitive trading and 

For fee-free unstaking, Ditto offers a delayed option that processes withdrawals at the end of staking subscription periods, potentially taking up to 30 days. This mechanism ensures users always have an exit path, regardless of instant pool availability.

The delayed unstaking feature provides an important arbitrage mechanism that helps maintain the stAPT-APT peg. By guaranteeing eventual redemption at the actual exchange rate, this option adds security and confidence to the broader stAPT ecosystem.

Ditto establishes stAPT-APT liquidity pools across major Aptos DEXs, creating alternative trading routes for users who prefer market-based exchanges over protocol unstaking. These pools enhance overall stAPT liquidity while offering flexible entry and exit options for different trading strategies.

Ditto implements a 10% fee on all staking rewards earned by the protocol. Fee distribution occurs through additional stAPT minting each epoch to ensure transparent and automated reward sharing. This mechanism maintains protocol sustainability while incentivizing high-quality validator services and continued development.

Ditto has successfully launched its liquid staking protocol on the Aptos mainnet, establishing the foundation for stAPT adoption across the ecosystem. The platform currently processes over 53,000 APT in total staked value, while maintaining a 7% annual yield for participants. Ditto launched its pre-mining program alongside mainnet deployment, allowing users to stake stAPT and LP tokens for DTO discount token rewards. 

Looking ahead, Ditto plans to launch the DTO governance token while expanding stAPT integrations across major Aptos DeFi protocols. Future development will focus on deepening the utility of stAPT through partnerships with lending protocols, stablecoin projects and NFT marketplaces. The team aims to establish stAPT to be as ubiquitous as native APT within the Aptos ecosystem, supporting the vision of liquid staking as a foundational pillar of DeFi.

Ditto solves Aptos staking's core limitation by enabling users to earn staking yields without sacrificing liquidity while they participate in DeFi. With over 53,000 APT already staked, Ditto proves that demand exists for accessible staking solutions that remove technical barriers.

Ditto’s combination of automatic yield accrual, instant unstaking and zero-fee delayed withdrawals creates compelling advantages over traditional staking. With stAPT designed for widespread DeFi integration and DTO governance launching to decentralize the protocol even further, Ditto has positioned itself as essential infrastructure for Aptos's growth.

Intermediate

ditto.png

Ditto (stAPT): Flexible staking for the Aptos ecosystem

Huma Finance (HUMA) pioneers PayFi, merging DeFi and real-world assets to power fast, borderless, programmable payments via blockchain technology.

Traditional payment systems — whether for individuals or enterprises — are plagued by inefficiencies. Cross-border transfers are painstakingly slow and costly, while access to credit is unevenly distributed. Furthermore, trust is often tied to outdated intermediaries and opaque infrastructure when transacting on these platforms.

In a world where real-time commerce and digital financial services require fast-paced and cost-efficient networks, these traditional systems fall short.

This groundbreaking protocol is designed to reimagine payments and lending by leveraging 

. With its innovative Payment Finance (PayFi) model. Huma enables programmable, on-chain cash flows that support use cases across various sectors.

 (DeFi) with real-world income streams, Huma is changing the way business is done to ensure a more inclusive, transparent and efficient global economy.

Huma Finance is the first Payment Finance (PayFi) protocol in the web3 space designed to provide 24/7 global blockchain-based payment solutions by leveraging stablecoins and on-chain liquidity.

Huma aims to counter the challenges plaguing traditional financial systems, such as slow transacting speed, high costs, opaque structures and use of third parties/intermediaries to process payments.

, Huma promises instantaneous and frictionless payments across borders. Catering to different stakeholders in the global economy, Huma taps into PayFi to accelerate the way money moves. Whether it’s suppliers seeking an affordable and fast payment option or people seeking to send money internationally, Huma will facilitate these payments with ease.

At the heart of this innovative PayFi protocol is the Huma crypto token, HUMA, which is used in Huma’s network for governance and as its utility token.

To deliver frictionless and borderless financial solutions, Huma Finance relies on the concept of PayFi to deliver programmable, blockchain-based products. PayFi is seen as the internet of money, providing an open-source technological infrastructure to cater to different facets of the financial world. From transactions to compliance to custody, PayFi can handle it.

To understand how Huma operates, let’s look at the six foundational pillars of its PayFi stack, which are the forces behind its ecosystem.

This is the backbone of Huma’s PayFi ecosystem. It manages critical network aspects, such as transaction costs, speed and security. For optimal operation, Huma’s PayFi leverages two blockchains — 

These two networks align with Huma’s use cases since they provide high speeds and low transaction costs without compromising security and decentralization.

This layer features the stablecoin aspect of the ecosystem. With stablecoins, payment systems remain exactly that — stable — despite the 

Through this layer, major stablecoins such as 

, can help facilitate seamless and compliant payments while providing much-needed stability for payment use cases. Other stablecoins, such as programmable stablecoins or yield-bearing stablecoins, can also be incorporated into this layer, which also allows integration with global financial systems in Europe, Asia and elsewhere.

The Custody Layer uses DeFi to provide the digital infrastructure for the custody of assets during transactions, as opposed to the physical intermediaries required by traditional money transfer solutions.

This pillar of the PayFi stack leverages blockchain to allow multiple parties to share custody over assets without slowing down transactions.

 asset management, and offers programmable asset locks and customization authorization mechanisms.

The Compliance Layer caters to regulatory requirements for stablecoin payment systems, especially those operating in heavily regulated jurisdictions, and facilitates real-time checks on compliance via features such as 

The Financing Layer leverages blockchain technology to provide transparency in capital demand and supply, which is usually an opaque aspect of TradFi. Through the use of 

, PayFi facilitates the automation of risk assessment by using real-world data. As such, pricing and structuring of assets are conducted transparently, rather than behind closed doors.

As PayFi's topmost layer, the Application Layer brings tangible financial tools to life that developers can incorporate into their creations. Through this layer, payment solutions such as crypto payment, 

 infrastructure, trade finance innovations, 

 and OTC services can be integrated into financial products.

Huma Finance's key products are Huma 2.0 (permissionless access) and Huma Institutional (permissioned access to institutional investors). Let’s take a deeper look at the two.

Launched in April 2025, Huma 2.0 (or simply Huma) is the protocol's entry into democratizing DeFi by allowing permissionless access to payment yields for different stakeholders.

Huma 2.0 is an upgrade from Huma Institutional, which only allowed permissioned access to institutions. Its key features are a dedicated 

 for interaction, Solana-powered liquidity pools, a dedicated price oracle and off-chain auto tasks to manage tasks in the pools.

Powered by Solana, Huma 2.0 leverages its high speed and low cost of transacting to provide investors with accelerated ways to make cross-border payments. Some Solana protocols integrated with the platform that offer instant liquidity are 

Huma 2.0 offers two modes for earning yield to liquidity providers (LPs) who lock up their HUMA tokens.. LPs can choose from the Classic mode, which generates stable yields (currently at 10.5% in liquidity pools on Solana) plus 

 rewards, or Maxi mode, which allows LPs to forego the APY on stable yields and maximize their Huma Feathers rewards.

You can also lock funds into Huma liquidity pools to generate passive rewards in the form of enhanced Huma Feathers. Huma offers varying lockup options: no lockup period, 3-month lockup or 6-month lockup. Your Feathers Rewards scale directly to your lockup duration.

While you can't shorten the lockup period, you can always extend it for better flexibility and control. You cannot redeem your funds before the lockup period is over, and any token transfer conducted during the set lockup time leads to forfeiture of the bonus earned.

Huma Institutional is a permissioned platform designed to provide institutional investors with decentralized credit opportunities backed by real-world assets (RWAs), such as invoices, inventory or intellectual property. It’s 

Stellar. It supports structured finance features such as tranches, tokenization and first-loss cover, allowing investors to participate in receivables-backed pools with customizable risk and yield profiles.

Huma Institutional uses a two-tranche system to manage credit risk and yield for institutional lenders:

Some investment pools may feature both tranches, while others might have only a junior tranche. Lenders choose which tranche to invest in, based on their risk tolerance and desired return. Investors looking for safer, more predictable income may invest in senior tranches, while those willing to take on more risk for higher yield may opt for junior tranches. Those who are interested in participating must undergo approval processes, including KYC/KYB checks and signing necessary legal documents.

Huma supports both fixed yield (whereby senior tranche returns are steady unless losses occur) and risk-adjusted yield (whereby a portion of senior tranche returns is redirected to junior tranches, based on pool structure). Pools enforce a maximum leverage ratio of 4:1 to protect senior capital, meaning that juniors must make up at least 20% of the pool.

While most pools on Huma are backed by income or receivables, first-loss covers serve as an added layer of protection for lenders to partially or fully absorb losses in the event of defaults. Each pool can have up to 16 types of first-loss cover, including collateral from borrowers and insurance.

Interaction between lenders and borrowers

Lenders provide liquidity to pools by investing in tranches. In return, they earn yields based on the performance of the underlying assets.

Borrowers, such as businesses needing financing, access funds by tokenizing their receivables. Depending upon the pool's terms, they’re obligated to make timely interest payments, and may need to make minimum principal repayments each period.

This system creates a transparent and efficient ecosystem in which lenders earn returns and borrowers gain access to necessary capital.

What is the Huma Finance crypto token (HUMA)?

The Huma Finance crypto token (HUMA) is the native utility and 

 for the Huma ecosystem. It's designed to provide long-term incentives to various stakeholders on Huma, such as liquidity providers and builders. Its key utilities are as follows:

HUMA has a maximum supply of 10 billion tokens, with an initial circulating supply of 1.73 billion. The tokens are distributed as shown in the chart below:

You can buy HUMA on Bybit as a Spot trading pair or a USDT Perpetual contract. To celebrate HUMA’s listing, Bybit is holding a Token Splash event in which 

 are up for grabs. The event runs through Jun 9, 2025, 9AM UTC, and is split into two parts:

As of Jun 6, 2025, HUMA is trading at $0.04173, a 64% drop from its all-time high of $0.1156 on May 26, 2025 and a 16.1% increase from its all-time low of $0.03589 on May 31, 2025.

Price prediction experts are conservatively bullish on HUMA's future price. According to CoinCodex, a price prediction platform, HUMA

 of $0.067 in 2027 but decline to $0.14 by 2030.

That said, such price prediction isn't investment advice, and doesn't guarantee the future price of HUMA. We highly recommend you 

 before investing in HUMA or any other cryptocurrencies.

As the first PayFi network in web3, Huma Finance is pioneering a transformative approach to global payments. By leveraging blockchain technology and stablecoins, Huma enables real-time, 24/7 settlements, effectively addressing the inefficiencies of traditional finance systems. Its modular PayFi Stack integrates Transaction, Currency, Custody, Compliance, Financing and Application layers in order to provide a comprehensive framework for seamless financial operations.

By tokenizing real-world assets, such as invoices and inventory, Huma offers businesses immediate access to liquidity, while investors benefit from sustainable, real-world yields.

With a transaction volume of over $4.6 billion and a focus on inclusivity, Huma Finance isn’t just redefining payment financing — it’s also setting the stage for a more efficient and accessible global financial ecosystem.

huma finance.png

Huma Finance (HUMA): Rewiring global payments with PayFi

Options

Put options are excellent tools for hedging and speculation. They have high potential for profit and can help you tide through severe price fluctuations.

Financial markets have been abuzz with activity since the 17th century. While they’re a great place to make profit, the risk of losing money is also very real. Multiple asset classes are available for trading: Among them, options are considered a relatively low-risk investment. Traditionally, stock options are traded, but it’s hard to ignore 

, given the boom of cryptocurrency in the past few years.

While options can be tied to any asset (e.g., stocks or bonds), crypto options are specifically tied to the performance of crypto assets. As a result, a trader doesn't need to own an asset before buying or selling the option for it. With crypto options, investors of any portfolio size can participate in the crypto market and reap its benefits.

 that confer upon the trader the right (not the obligation) to

 an underlying asset at a specified price or 

 after the premium is paid. An options contract usually lasts for a specific time period, within which the option must be exercised. This contract lapses on a particular date, known as the 

Crypto options trading is a way for options holders to be part of the crypto market without necessarily owning the crypto itself. Not only are crypto options cheaper than their underlying assets, they’re also perceived to be less risky. The low level of risk involved and high leverage potential are arguably the biggest draws for retail traders.

Apart from giving traders a way to predict or speculate on the financial value or price movements of assets in the market, options are also used by institutional investors for 

, crypto options have become a popular alternative for investors looking to get a slice of the crypto pie.

Crypto put options are contracts that confer upon the option buyer the right (but not the obligation) to 

a specific amount of an underlying asset at a predetermined price within a particular time frame. The predetermined price is known as the 

“Expiration time” refers to the time frame within which the options contract is still valuable. Once the expiration time has passed, the put option loses all its value.

Various underlying assets like stocks, bonds, indexes and futures can be traded using put options, by which the seller determines how the contract is run. The options buyer is required to pay the seller a specific fee on each share in order to purchase the contract. This fee is known as the 

, and it represents one of the same underlying assets. For example, one crypto option contract on BTC would be the same as controlling 1 BTC token. You do not have to own the underlying cryptocurrency to buy or sell put options. 

A crypto put option — the opposite of a crypto call option — confers upon the user the right to sell an underlying stock at the strike price before the expiration date is reached. Several factors affect the price of a put option, including (but not limited to) the volatility of the crypto market, interest rates, time decay, and the value of the strike or specific price.

Generally, the value of a put option increases with a drop in the price of the underlying asset.

A portion of a crypto put option’s value is tied to a fall in the price of the underlying stock. This means that the value of a put option increases with a decrease in the price of the underlying asset. A put option begins to lose value with a rise in the price of the asset to which it is tied. Following this, put options are used for hedging, or predicting a downward slope in the price of specific assets.

 is one used by put options traders as a risk management strategy. The main function of a protective put is to make sure that the drop in the price of a particular asset doesn’t fall below a set level. You can decide to sell or buy a put option, and the transaction is carried out on a 

When buying a put option, the buyer predicts that the value of the asset will drop over a specified time frame before the expiration date. When selling a put option, the seller speculates that the value of the asset will rise or remain unchanged during the valid period of the contract, or before the option expires.

If the market price moves in favor of the options holder, they can decide to exercise their put by selling the underlying asset at the strike (or set) price. Fundamentally, options can be divided into two types:

American-style options allow the holder to exercise their option on or before the expiration date, while European style options only allow the holder to exercise their options on the date of expiration. If the market price remains the same or increases, the options sellers get the premium paid by the buyer.

A put option is said to be OTM (out of the money) if it has no intrinsic value at expiration. 

, it is said to be ITM (in the money) if it still has intrinsic value at expiration.

Crypto Put Options vs. Crypto Call Options

Other than put options, the other main type of option is the call option, which increases in value as the price of the asset rises. Call options are the opposite of put options, but both types give holders the chance to earn a profit much higher than their investments.

A put option benefits from a decline in market price, while a call option benefits from a rise in the market value of the asset.

Selling both a call option and put option attracts a premium. In the event that the crypto market takes an unfavorable turn, the seller bears all the risks involved.

Let’s say that Sandra, an investor, decides to buy a Bitcoin put option as a form of insurance over her position in Bitcoin. After a while, she speculates that a 

 is near, and she isn’t ready to forfeit more than 10% of her long position in Bitcoin. 

Let’s assume Bitcoin is currently trading at $30,000 per coin, and Sandra purchases a put option that will give her the right to sell it at $27,000 within the next 2 years.

If, within 6 months, a 20% (500 points) loss is recorded, Sandra will have recovered 250 points simply by being able to sell at $27,000, rather than the current market price of $24,000, which is a loss of only 10%. Even if the market crashes to $0, Sandra will still only record a loss of 10%.

Conversely, if the market doesn’t drop within this time frame, Sandra can decide to let the put expire. If she does so, she will only lose the premium fee.

Buying and Selling Puts: Strategies and Examples

This is a popular strategy used by traders. Here, the trader buys a “going long” put option in the hope that the 

market price will fall below the strike price at expiration

. The benefit of this strategy is that in the event of a drastic price reduction, the trader can get back many times their initial investment.

Stock Q trades for $30 per share, with a strike price of $30 with 4 months to expiration. The premium is $1 per share.

If, at expiration, the share price is $29, the put breaks even. If it is between $29 and $30, a net loss is recorded, as only a part of the option’s premium is recovered. 

If the stock falls to less than $29, the trader gains $100 for every share they own. The lower the price, the higher the gain recorded by the trader. If the stock rises above $30, the put is rendered valueless, and the trader loses the option premium of $100.

This is simply the opposite of the long put. Here, the trader sells a “going short” put in the hope that the asset price will 

rise above the strike price at the point of expiration

. The seller of the put earns a premium in exchange for selling the put. This premium is the highest reward that can be obtained for trading a short put. If the asset price falls below the strike price, the trader is obligated to buy it back at the strike price.

If stock A is trading at $40 per share, with a strike price of also $40 with 5 months to the expiration date. The premium is $1 per share.

If, at expiration, the share price is below $39, the put costs the trader $100 for every dollar loss. The lower the stock price, the greater the loss incurred by the trader. If the stock price rises above $40, the seller earns the full premium. If the market price falls between $39 and $40, the seller earns only a part of the premium.

This is simply an upgrade of the long put. In this case, the trader buys both the underlying asset and a put option. This is a hedging technique. The trader expects the asset price to soar, but still wants a form of insurance in case the stock price declines. If the stock price actually declines, the long put covers the loss incurred.

Stock P trades for $30 per share, with a strike price of $30 with six months to expiration and a total premium of $100. So, the trader buys 100 shares of P for a total of $3,000 and one put option for $100.

If at expiration, the share price is $29 or $30, the put breaks even, resulting in a net loss, as only a part of the premium is recovered. If the share price drops below $30, the long put covers the loss evenly. If the share price rises above $31, the net gain increases by $100 for every corresponding gain in price, although the put becomes valueless, and the trader loses the premium fee they paid.

Put Options: Effectively Manage Price Risk With This Tool

Compete for 2,500 USDT Every Week

Put Options: Effectively Manage Price Risk With This Tool

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards

Compete for 2,500 USDT Every Week

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards