The Iran war has set oil ablaze and crypto exchanges are rushing to offer 24/7 trading to fill trading gaps, with most copying decentralized giant Hyperliquid’s perpetual futures game.
Crypto market-making giant Wintermute is taking a different approach. On Tuesday, its derivatives unit Wintermute Asia launched over-the-counter (OTC) trading of WTI crude oil contracts for difference (CFDs).
CFD is a type of derivative that allows traders to speculate on the price movement of an asset without owning it. Like futures, CFDs track the price of the asset, but the key difference is that only the difference between the opening and closing prices is exchanged between the trader and the broker when the contract is closed.
CFDs are very popular in traditional markets, particularly in Europe, Asia and Australia, where they are used by retail and institutional traders to access a wide range of assets from stocks, currencies and commodities such as oil and gold. They are typically traded over-the-counter and can be tailored in terms of size, duration, and margin requirements.
This customized flexibility allows professional traders and institutions to design strategies that match specific risk-return objectives, rather than settling for one-size-fits-all derivatives like Hyperliquid’s perpetual oil futures.
The launch of the Wintermute CFD comes amid weeks of intense geopolitical volatility in the Middle East. Rising tensions between Iran and the US-Israel coalition have left traders in a bind during weekends when traditional financial markets are closed, limiting their ability to adjust positions or manage risk effectively. This led to outsized trading activity in the Hyperliquid energy market perpetual securities and led to WIntermute offering CFDs.
“We are seeing strong demand from counterparties looking to use digital asset infrastructure to trade traditional commodities like oil. Recent price developments made that need much more immediate as many investors were unable to act until traditional venues reopened,” said Evgeny Gaevoy, CEO of Wintermute.
“A Wintermute counterparty could have traded the weekend move before Monday’s gap or responded immediately to the reversal,” Gaevoy added.
Please note that Wintermute is a CFD counterparty. Traders are not paired with each other; They are trading directly with Wintermute, which assumes the market risk. Therefore, the company is leveraging its risk management systems and deep liquidity to monetize 24/7 crude oil demand, rather than simply supplying liquidity to perpetual futures.
Traders can access WTI CFDs with no trading commissions, using a variety of fiat and crypto assets as margin, according to the official announcement. Contracts can be executed via chat, Wintermute’s OTC electronic platform or API. The launch builds on the recent introduction of tokenized gold, further expanding Wintermute Asia’s suite of offerings beyond purely digital assets.
