Perpetual DEXs pursue options with different product strategies

Hyperliquid, Lighter and Variational are expanding their options ambitions through different approaches, potentially bringing new competition to an onchain market led by Derive.

Hyperliquid has added tools for options applications through its HIP-4 market but has not launched a proprietary options product. Founder Jeff Yan has described perpetuals and options as complementary instruments for directional trading and volatility management.

Lighter Core launched 15-minute Bitcoin and Ethereum up/down binary options on 2026-10-19. Founder Vladimir Novakovski said standard European options would be the team's next focus. On 2026-10-20, Variational founder Lucas Schuermann said the planned Variational Pro would launch the following year, covering standard options, structured products and over-the-counter derivatives.

Those expansion plans face practical hurdles. Research firm Block Scholes has identified liquidity fragmented across chains and protocols as an obstacle to large orders and complex strategies. Options' volatility pricing and time decay also make them harder for users to understand than directional perpetual trades, leaving broader adoption uncertain.