How it works
Up and Down are fully backed European options with a capped payout. Here is exactly what they pay.
Up and Down
| Up (call) | Down (put) | |
|---|---|---|
| Pays if the final price is | Above the price to beat (K) | Below K |
| Payout | size × (final − K), at most size × W | size × (K − final), at most size × W |
| Cap (where the payout stops growing) | K + W | K − W |
| Paid in | USDC | USDC |
| Max loss | What you paid | What you paid |
| Max profit | size × W, minus what you paid | size × W, minus what you paid |
| Breakeven | K + paid ÷ size | K − paid ÷ size |
W, the width, is two steps of the strike's price grid, about 1.2–3% of the strike: $2,000 for BTC around $100,000 and $40 for ETH around $2,400. Pro shows the cap as "If BTC ends above $112,000"; Lite as "win up to" that capped gross payout (not profit) plus "Full payout if BTC ends above $112,000". Every position shows it as "Capped at $112,000".
Size is how much BTC or ETH your option tracks: what you pay divided by the price of one whole-coin option.
Examples
Made-up prices
BTC Up: you pay $20.00, K is $110,000, the cap is $112,000 and one whole-BTC option costs $1,000, so size is 0.02 BTC.
| Final BTC | Payout | Profit |
|---|---|---|
| $109,000 | $0.00 | −$20.00 |
| $110,000 | $0.00 | −$20.00 |
| $111,000 | $20.00 | $0.00 (breakeven) |
| $111,500 | $30.00 | +$10.00 |
| $112,000 | $40.00 | +$20.00 (the cap) |
| $120,000 | $40.00 | +$20.00 |
At $115,000 the BTC Up pays 0.02 × min(115,000 − 110,000, 2,000) = $40.00 in USDC, rounded down to the smallest USDC unit.
ETH Down: you pay $15.00, K is $2,400, the cap is $2,360 and one whole-ETH option costs $25, so size is 0.6 ETH.
| Final ETH | Payout | Profit |
|---|---|---|
| $2,500 | $0.00 | −$15.00 |
| $2,400 | $0.00 | −$15.00 |
| $2,375 | $15.00 | $0.00 (breakeven) |
| $2,360 | $24.00 | +$9.00 (the cap) |
| $2,000 | $24.00 | +$9.00 |
It can pay at most 0.6 × $40 = $24. That $24 in USDC was locked in the contract before you bought.
Fully collateralized
Whoever writes the option (today, our market maker) first locks the most it can pay, and the contract checks it before every payout. There is no margin or liquidation, and the other side can't fail to pay.
| Option | Locked per 1 size | Why it's enough |
|---|---|---|
| Up and Down | W in USDC | The payout stops at W per 1 size |
European and cash-settled
Only the final price counts. Crossing K earlier does nothing, and nobody delivers or buys a coin: you receive the value of the move in USDC, up to the cap.
Markets end daily at 08:00 UTC, with Deribit's daily options, shown in your time zone (e.g. "Tomorrow, 1:30 PM · 08:00 UTC" in India).
Before the end
You can sell back at the current Sell back price until 30 minutes before the end. Then the position waits for the final price (Settlement) and is paid out (Collecting).
Before the end, value depends on time left as well as price. If BTC rises slowly or too little, an Up can still lose value, and it pays $0 if the final price doesn't clear K.