Swiss banking giant UBS has significantly expanded its options exposure to BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), reporting a more than 24-fold increase in call option holdings during the second quarter. According to a regulatory 13F filing released this week, the firm disclosed call options representing 1.95 million underlying IBIT shares as of June 30, a sharp rise from the 80,000 shares reported three months earlier.
The surge in call options—which confer the right to purchase shares at a predetermined price—coincided with a modest increase in direct share ownership. UBS raised its outright holdings of IBIT by approximately 12 percent over the quarter, ending June with 407,890 shares valued at roughly $13.6 million. Despite this quarterly uptick, the bank’s direct equity position remains below the 548,614 shares it held at the end of 2025.
Conversely, the wealth manager pared back its downside protection by cutting its put option exposure by roughly 53 percent. Puts tied to IBIT dropped to 143,300 underlying shares from 303,300 at the end of March. Because regulatory filings omit critical details such as strike prices and expiration dates, industry analysts note it is difficult to determine the firm’s net directional exposure or exact trading strategy from the filing alone.
The dramatic increase in call options comes as the institution, which manages over $7 trillion in assets, deepens its involvement in the digital asset space. UBS recently began preparations to offer select private banking clients in Switzerland access to direct bitcoin and ether trading. However, the filing does not specify whether these client initiatives drove the options buildup, leaving open the possibility that the positions reflect market-making, dealer hedging, or proprietary strategies.
