Hyperliquid has launched a new perpetual futures market tracking the Bitcoin Volmex Implied Volatility Index (BVIV), allowing traders to take direct positions on bitcoin’s expected volatility rather than its price direction.

The contracts went live Monday on Markets by Kinetiq, with Volmex Labs founder and CEO Cole Kennelly leading the initiative. The new market supports both long and short positions tied to bitcoin’s projected 30-day volatility.

BVIV measures real-time expectations for bitcoin’s implied volatility over the coming 30 days. The index is often likened to the “bitcoin VIX” because of its similarity to the Cboe Volatility Index, which measures expected 30-day volatility for the S&P 500.

Until now, traders looking to express a view on bitcoin volatility often relied on options strategies. Such trades can require more capital and a deeper understanding of derivatives. BVIV perpetuals provide a more straightforward instrument for gaining direct volatility exposure.

The launch comes as crypto derivatives continue to attract a wider range of professional participants, including hedge funds, volatility traders and investors using options-income strategies.

“The launch of BVIV Index perpetual futures on Hyperliquid is a massive unlock for crypto traders and investors,” said Cole Kennelly, founder and CEO of Volmex Labs. “The market leading Bitcoin volatility index is now available to trade on the market leading onchain perpetual futures exchange, making it easy to hedge, speculate, and utilize pure Bitcoin volatility exposure.”

USDC-Based Contracts

BVIV perpetuals are denominated and collateralized in USDC, with leverage of up to 5x available at launch. Seda’s oracle infrastructure connects the Volmex index to the Markets exchange onchain.

The addition gives Hyperliquid another type of derivative to add to its broad range of perpetual markets covering crypto, equities, traditional indexes and commodities. The exchange has a fully diluted valuation of more than $90 billion.

Hyperliquid is the world’s largest decentralized perpetual-futures exchange, with billions of dollars in daily trading volume. Its continuous trading model allows users to trade and manage positions outside conventional market hours, including over weekends.

Markets by Kinetiq, an onchain perpetual futures platform operating on Hyperliquid, launched the BVIV market alongside Volmex and Perps.inc. It is the first product jointly deployed by the three companies and the first time Volmex’s bitcoin volatility index has been made available through an onchain perpetual futures market.

Justin Greenberg, co-founder and CTO of Kinetiq Markets, said the collaboration highlights a model in which partners contribute products while Markets provides the trading venue.

“With Bitcoin Volmex Implied Volatility Index, and the co-deployment structure that made it possible, we’re not just adding another ticker, we’re proving out the model for how Markets by Kinetiq scales,” Greenberg said. “Partners like Perps.inc and Volmex [are] bringing the products, and Markets [is] bringing the venue.”