TL;DR

🚀 January Highlights:

• Paradex: Sustained momentum as Season 2 begins
• Paradigm: 2025 starts strong with $27.2 billion traded

2025 fast out of the gate

Momentum carried forward as January volumes increased to $27.2 billion traded at Paradigm (31% market share) and $2.9 billion at Paradex. Paradex TVL and Open Interest also increased substantially. We will recap market catalysts and key options flows thoroughly in the Markets section.

Paradex Key Performance Metrics

The new year is here and Paradex is kicking off 2025 with a BANG! 🚀 In January, we hit 4,798 active users, more than doubling last month's record. Trading volume surged to $2.87B, with an ADV of $92M. Our TVL climbed to $36.6M, while total open interest stood at $21M. Meanwhile, traders also earned an impressive 16M XP throughout the month.

New Market Listings

We're starting the year strong by adding 11 new perp markets, bringing the total to 81. More markets, more opportunities!

• VVV-USD-PERP
• VINE-USD-PERP
• ANIME-USD-PERP
• TRUMP-USD-PERP
• MELANIA-USD-PERP
• MORPHO-USD-PERP
• LTC-USD-PERP
• AIXBT-USD-PERP
• AI16Z-USD-PERP
• ZEREBRO-USD-PERP

Political Tailwinds Part 2

Spot started January strong amid lower liquidity, but then retraced after solid employment figures and Fed minutes that reiterated a hawkish stance, noting that "almost all participants judged that upside risks to the inflation outlook had increased.". Frontend skew flipped puts (Chart 1) but quickly reversed to calls as the market rebounded. BTC flows were mixed with some participants buying risk reversals while others sold puts. ETH flows were predominantly bullish with ETH OTM call spreads lifted.

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The tide turned in anticipation of Trump's inauguration, bolstered by a series of positive regulatory developments. SEC Chair Gary Gensler stepped down, and SEC Acting Chair Mark Uyeda announced a crypto task force dedicated to developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets to be led by SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce. CFTC Commissioner Caroline Pham—a proponent of "regulatory sandboxes" for digital assets—was appointed to lead the agency. President Trump signed the "Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology" executive order, establishing a Working Group chaired by Special Advisor for AI and Crypto, David Sacks. The group will propose a Federal regulatory framework for digital assets, including stablecoins, and evaluate the potential creation of a national digital asset stockpile. BTC renewed its ATH while implieds spiked (Chart 2). Flows flipped bullish with BTC upside lifted.

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Late in the month, equities sold off sharply following the DeepSeek news, with the Nasdaq Composite dropping 3.1%. Nvidia plummeted 17%, erasing $589 billion in market cap—the largest single-day loss by a listed company. Realizeds and implieds bled until month-end (Chart 3). SOL volumes increased substantially.

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Top 10 BTC Structures on Paradigm:

2151x 31-Jan-25 110000 Call bought
1695x 28-Mar-25 130000 Call sold
1500x Custom Strategy: +1.00 Put 28-Feb-25 70000
+1.00 Put 28-Feb-25 75000
+0.11… Perpetual 103,610.1 sold
1250x 26-Dec-25 80000/180000 Bear Risk Reversal bought
1200x 28-Mar-25 55000 Put sold
1075x 31-Jan-25 100000 Put bought
1027x 25-Jan-25 112000 Call bought
1000x 24-Jan-25 108000 Call bought
935x 31-Jan-25 105000 28-Mar-25 115000 Call Calendar sold
862x 24-Jan-25 102000/110000 Call Spread bought

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Top 10 ETH Structures on Paradigm:

15375x 28-Mar-25 5000/6000 Call Spread bought
10125x 28-Feb-25 3400/3800 Bear Risk Reversal bought
10000x 28-Feb-25 3600 Call bought
9125x 28-Mar-25 5500/6500 Call Spread bought
8000x 28-Feb-25 3300/3700 Bear Risk Reversal bought
7824x 31-Jan-25 3800/4300 Call Spread bought
7505x 31-Jan-25 3900 Call bought
7500x 31-Jan-25 3000 Put bought
6250x 9-Jan-25 3775 Call bought
6000x 31-Jan-25 4000 Call bought

Top 10 XRP Structures on Paradigm:

600000x 28-Feb-25 2.6 Put sold
390000x 31-Jan-25 3 Call sold
250000x 31-Jan-25 3.4 Call bought
240000x 31-Jan-25 2.8 Put sold
200000x 31-Jan-25 3 Put sold
180000x 31-Jan-25 2.5 Put sold
150000x Custom Strategy: +3.00 Put 31-Jan-25 2.5
-1.00 Put 31-Jan-25 3 bought
145000x 24-Jan-25 2.4 Call sold
100000x 28-Feb-25 5.5 Call sold
40000x 28-Feb-25 4/4.5 Call Spread bought

Top 10 SOL Structures on Paradigm:

115000x 31-Jan-25 280 Call bought
74000x 31-Jan-25 260 Call bought
40000x 31-Jan-25 270 Call bought
25000x 24-Jan-25 232 Call bought
10000x 31-Jan-25 250 Call bought
10000x 7-Feb-25 210 Put bought
10000x 28-Feb-25 280/400 Call Spread bought
10000x 31-Jan-25 240 Call bought
10000x 28-Feb-25 180/210 Bear Risk Reversal bought
5000x 31-Jan-25 210 Call sold

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Stay informed and engaged with us through "Paradigm Edge" and "Paradex" Telegram channels — your go-to resources for navigating this ever-changing crypto derivatives landscape.

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Sincerely,
The Paradigm Team 💜