Trading options on forex and crypto is still a mystery to most retail traders, but it doesn’t have to be. In this interview, we talk with Italian options expert Andrea Vaturi about how these lesser-known markets work, why they’re growing fast, and how traders can use options strategies to profit from volatility while keeping risk under control.
Learn about options on forex and crypto in this video
Andrea Vaturi: Experienced educator and trader
Our guest in this episode is Andrea Vaturi, a professional options trader and educator from Milan, Italy. Andrea is a certified Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) educator and the founder of Opzionetika, an options trading school that has trained thousands of students. He has nearly two decades of experience trading U.S. and European markets.
The untapped opportunity: options on forex and crypto
Most brokers don’t offer options on forex or crypto, so many traders are unaware that these markets exist. But Andrea explains that they are real, tradable, and full of opportunity for retail traders who already understand how options work.
The forex market is the world’s largest and most liquid financial market, yet it is mostly accessed through spot or futures trading. Similarly, the crypto market is fast-growing and volatile, offering rich premiums for option sellers. According to Andrea, both asset classes are ideal for traders seeking diversification and new ways to earn income from volatility.
- Watch other interviews with options traders:
- Dale Perryman: 0DTE Iron Fly on SPX
- Boomer Dan: 0DTE Levitation Trades
- Bill Belt: Rolling Put Diagonal
- Murray Lindhoet: 112 options trading strategy
Why trade options on forex?
Forex pairs, like EUR/USD or GBP/JPY, move differently from stocks or indexes. They are influenced by interest rates, macroeconomic data, and relative strength between currencies, not by corporate earnings or stock indexes.
Andrea explains that this low correlation with equity markets makes forex options a useful hedge and an additional income source.
He trades forex options through Ava Options, a specialized platform designed specifically for this market. Each option contract represents 10,000 units of the base currency, and prices are quoted in pips, the standard forex unit.
While bid-ask spreads are wider than in stock options (about 5–6 pips instead of 1), Andrea says the benefits easily outweigh the extra cost. “From my experience,” he notes, “this higher cost is completely overcompensated by the advantages of trading options on this market.”
How Andrea trades forex options
Andrea’s main approach is mean reversion trading. He studies price swings between currency pairs and looks for moments when volatility spikes and the price moves far from its average.
When that happens:
- He sells puts if the market has fallen sharply.
- He sells calls if the market has rallied strongly.
Because forex tends to revert to its mean over time, this approach allows him to collect premiums repeatedly while managing risk carefully. He keeps trades simple – usually one-leg or two-leg strategies – since wider spreads make complex structures like iron condors less efficient.
Andrea emphasizes that forex options are cash-settled and that traders face little risk of early assignment. They also require small capital and allow granular position sizing, making them accessible even for smaller accounts.
Trading options on crypto
Andrea also trades options on Bitcoin and Ethereum through the Deribit platform, which he has followed since its early days. He notes that crypto is “one of the most interesting markets for the future” because of its extreme volatility, which can be both dangerous and profitable.
He uses two main strategies:
- Selling weekend volatility: Options expiring over weekends often have overpriced implied volatility, so he sells them between Friday and Monday.
- Calendar trades: He buys longer-dated options and sells shorter-term ones to take advantage of the high theta decay in crypto.
Deribit’s contracts are flexible: one standard option equals one Bitcoin, but traders can trade as small as 0.1 contracts, making it possible to manage risk precisely.
Andrea stresses that risk control is key. He typically risks only tens or a few hundred dollars per trade — and calls both forex and crypto options “low-risk markets” when traded with strict position sizing.
Real results and risk management
Andrea’s real-money accounts have shown consistent growth over several years. In his forex options account, a starting balance of $10,000 grew to about $23,000 with very low margin usage — typically under 5%.
He attributes this to a disciplined approach:
- Careful position sizing
- Detailed tracking of trades and risk metrics
- A self-developed tool called the “Equity Ghost Line”, which helps visualize portfolio risk and drawdowns
Andrea’s message is clear: sustainable success in options trading comes from risk management first, not chasing returns.
Who should trade options on forex and crypto?
Andrea believes these markets suit both forex and crypto traders who already understand their underlying assets and want to benefit from the flexibility of options. He also recommends them to experienced options traders who seek uncorrelated opportunities outside of stocks and indexes.
“If you’re a forex trader, use options on forex,” he says. “If you’re a crypto trader, use options on crypto — you’ll get all the options’ advantages and make your trading more profitable.”
Where to learn more
Most of Andrea’s educational materials are currently in Italian, but he welcomes the idea of creating English-language content in the future.
He also recommends several books for options traders:
- Dan Passarelli: Trading Option Greeks
- Pierino Ursone: How to Calculate Options Prices and Their Greeks
- Julia Spina: The Unlucky Investor’s Guide to Options Trading
For a broader understanding of trading psychology, Andrea suggests:
- Gabriel Weinberg and Lauren McCann: Super Thinking: The Big Book of Mental Models