MIAX has restored Monday and Wednesday short-term options expiries for BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT), months after dropping the fund from its third-quarter roster. The fund now qualifies under a new, lower-threshold Tier 2 framework the exchange group filed with regulators on Aug. 13.
MIAX, the U.S. options exchange group, restored Monday and Wednesday short-term expiries for IBIT options after dropping the ETF from its third-quarter roster. A MIAX listing alert said the exchange group would begin listing IBIT under the new Tier 2 framework on Aug. 18, 2026, and it named IBIT expirations for Aug. 19, 24, 26 and 31, confirming the fund's return within Q3 rather than at the next quarterly review.
Options on the ETF had been part of MIAX's initial January 2026 roster and remained eligible in the second quarter, but they disappeared from the Q3 list published July 1. MIAX and the SEC have not identified which test caused the removal.
Why IBIT may have lost eligibility
BlackRock's historical fund data imply about $43.23 billion of IBIT net assets on June 30, below the former $50 billion gate but above the new $25 billion threshold. AUM may therefore have been a constraint. However, MIAX has not published an IBIT-specific June options-volume count, so it has not said AUM was the sole failed condition.
How the new tier structure works
The MIAX Pearl rule notice splits qualifying ETFs into two tiers. Tier 1 keeps the old tests of more than $50 billion in AUM and more than 10 million monthly options sides and adds Tuesday and Thursday short-term expiries. Tier 2 cuts those gates to more than $25 billion and more than 5 million sides, but limits eligible funds to Monday and Wednesday expiries.
Both tiers still require a position limit of at least 250,000 contracts and participation in the Penny Interval Program. IBIT's own position and exercise limit was raised to 1 million contracts in May 2026. Tier 2 also caps the fund at no more than two Monday and two Wednesday expirations beyond the current week at any time, and MIAX will not list a Tier 2 expiry that coincides with a standard, monthly, or quarterly expiration.
What happens next
MIAX Pearl filed the change on Aug. 13, 2026, and the SEC waived the usual 30-day delay, making it effective upon filing. The regulator retained authority to suspend the rule within 60 days, and the Federal Register notice sets a Sept. 17, 2026, comment deadline.
For now, the change is venue-specific: it reopens additional Monday and Wednesday short-term expiration dates for IBIT on MIAX, but it does not amount to a market-wide change in IBIT options, nor does it establish how the new expiries will affect trading volume or Bitcoin volatility.
Source: CryptoSlate
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