What Is Delta Hedging & How Does It Work In Crypto?

If you're new to long-term trading and investing, you'll likely encounter instances when a catalyst causes huge volatility in your portfolio. While this might be acceptable for risk-tolerant individuals who are investing in growth-oriented assets, it's often advisable for investors to take up hedges to mitigate the risk exposure in one's crypto portfolio. That's where hedging comes in.

Curious as to how hedging works and how advanced investors take this to the next level with delta hedging? Find out how fund owners are limiting their risk exposure and engaging the use of derivatives with our beginner's guide to delta hedging in crypto portfolios.

Key Takeaways

• Delta hedging is used to manage risk by purchasing or writing options contracts to achieve a delta-neutral position.
• There are three types of options contracts that you can use when delta hedging: in-the-money options, at-the-money options and out-of-the-money options.
• While there are benefits to delta hedging, it also has risks due to the constant position tinkering involved. We would advise only those who are well-versed in options trading and the mechanics that go into their premium pricing to attempt delta hedging.

What Is Delta Hedging?

Delta hedging is an advanced risk management strategy that allows investors and traders to offset downside risk with the use of options contracts. This often involves purchasing or writing options contracts so the position or portfolio achieves a delta-neutral state.

Before diving headfirst into the world of delta hedging for crypto portfolios, it's key to first grasp the mechanics of hedging prior to discussing the use of derivatives to execute such a risk management strategy. 

For the uninformed, hedging strategies are similar to adopting an insurance policy for your vehicle in a road accident–prone area. While you can't entirely avoid the possibility of getting into a road accident when there's an inherent risk with driving in the area, you can cushion the potential blow with a hedging risk management strategy. Although mitigating the risk does cost a part of your profit, it's definitely a worthwhile cost if the volatility causes you to lose a huge portion of your portfolio.

While hedging includes the use of any financial instrument, investors often employ the use of derivatives because of the clear relationship between the portfolio asset and the contract from which it derives. By using derivatives like options contracts, delta hedging comes into play. From delta-neutral positions to hedging your underlying position, here's everything you'll need to know when it comes to learning about the in-depth mechanics of delta hedging your portfolio.

How Does Delta Hedging Work?

For those new to options trading, you'll certainly want to read up on our comprehensive options trading guide first before embarking on this journey to educate yourself about options. For starters, delta is one of the four option Greeks, and is a useful risk metric that estimates the change in price of an options contract, given a $1 or basis point change in its underlying asset. This means that for every $1 that the asset rises, the option price rises by the delta amount. 

That said, it's important to understand how delta works for underlying assets and their derivatives. Call options have a positive delta that ranges from 0 to 1, with at-the-money calls having a delta of 0.5. Conversely, put options have a negative delta that ranges from −1 to 0, with at-the-money puts having a delta of −0.5. Meanwhile, underlying assets like stocks and crypto have a delta of 1.

Now that we understand the basics of delta, let's move on to delta hedging a crypto portfolio with calls and puts. For the following section, we'll be classifying the options into three distinct categories and listing specific delta hedging examples so you're aware of how you can delta hedge your crypto portfolio accordingly.

In-the-Money

In-the-money options refers to derivative contracts with both intrinsic and extrinsic value. When exercised, these contracts have strike prices that are favorable when compared to the current market price for an asset. This means that at expiration, traders who own the contract will be able to either buy the asset at a lower price or sell it at a higher price, depending on whether the option contract is a call or put contract. More on this will be explained below.

Call Options

In-the-money call options are purchased by traders because they believe the market price of the asset is currently undervalued, and will exceed the current strike price of the asset at expiration. For example, if the current market price of ETH is $1,770, buying an in-the-money call means purchasing a call option with a strike price of $1,700 or less. When the call option expires, you'll be able to buy 1 ETH at a discount of $70 or more because the contract expired in-the-money.

Let's say you're already short 3 ETH. To hedge this position, we could look at an in-the-money contract, such as the 1500c ETH 28042023 option that has a delta of 0.81. To delta hedge your position, you'll want to buy 3 of these ETH calls. This is so the negative delta of the ETH short position is partially balanced out by the call you've just purchased. Specifically, your delta exposure is reduced to 0.57, or by about 81%.

Put Options

Conversely, traders tend to buy put options because they think the market price of an asset will be lower than the strike price of the put contract at expiration. For example, if the current market price of ETH is $1,770, buying an in-the-money put means purchasing a put option with a strike price of $1,800 or more. When the put option expires, you'll be able to sell 1 ETH at a premium of $30 or more because the contract expired in-the-money.

As the price continues to fall for ETH, the premium for these put options will appreciate as they become more in-the-money. The reverse is also true, as the puts tend to become less valuable if the price of ETH appreciates.

Let's say you've already bought an ETH put, and want to delta hedge your ETH put contract. To begin, you'll first want to consider its delta. For reference, we'll be using the 2000p ETH 28042023 contract that has −0.67 delta. To properly delta hedge this position, you'll need to place a long order of 0.67 ETH.

At-the-Money

As previously mentioned, at-the-money calls and puts have a delta of 0.5 and −0.5, respectively. Using the example of options contracts for ETH, buying an at-the-money call or put means purchasing contracts that have an $1,800 strike price. You'll notice that while both contracts don’t have exactly 0.5 and −0.5 delta, they still numerically add up to 1.

To set up a delta hedging strategy, simply short-sell 0.52 ETH if you're longing a call, or buy 0.48 ETH if you're longing a put.

Out-of-the-Money

Out-of-the-money options refers to derivative contracts with only extrinsic value. At expiration, if the current market price of the asset isn't above the strike price of the call option or below the strike price of the put option, then the option expires worthless. This ultimately makes the price of these options contracts dependent upon their time to expiration. 

In terms of options Greeks, this is where theta comes into play, with each passing day contributing to the decay of the option. Understanding theta decay aside, here's how you can delta hedge your positions when trading out-of-the-money option contracts.

Call Options

The good thing about trying to delta hedge out-of-the-money call options is that you'll require less capital to offset the directional risk of these option contracts. This is mainly because of their low delta value, whereby their option premiums vary less when there's a dollar change in the underlying asset price. In this case of ETH out-of-the-money calls, let's look at hedging a 2000c ETH 28042023 contract. With a delta of 0.33, you'll only need to short-sell 0.33 ETH in order to delta hedge your position.

Put Options

Similarly, due to their low delta value, delta hedging out-of-the-money put options is less capital intensive. To delta hedge a 1500p ETH 28042023 contract, you'll need to buy 0.18 ETH to balance out your positions.

How to Trade Delta Neutral

If you've gone through our previously mentioned examples, you'll realize they're a mix of partial delta hedging — where a percentage of the directional risk is mitigated — and full delta hedging, where the net delta exposure is zero. For portfolios with net zero delta, delta neutrality is achieved. Thanks to the careful balancing of positive and negative deltas, traders can end up with a delta-neutral position that takes into account potential upcoming catalysts and short-term risks.

Benefits of Delta Hedging Your Crypto Portfolio

The most important aspect of delta hedging your portfolio is that it can be profitable for you if you hedge strategically. By taking into account the aforementioned theta decay and lower implied volatility upon the passing of a major catalyst, option premiums tend to fall over time. This can play into your favor if you're using hedging options as a short-term way for you to mitigate volatility.

The second benefit of delta hedging is that it allows you to protect your portfolio from downside risk without causing you to close or trim your positions. After all, time in the market beats timing the market — so trying to constantly enter and exit positions can prove costly in the long run, as your portfolio can be affected by emotional buys and sells.

Risks of Delta Hedging Your Crypto Portfolio

That said, delta hedging does come with some downsides. Although it can be beneficial for your portfolio, delta hedging can prove costly, thanks to the constant position tinkering involved. This can result in costly transactional fees and wasted time as you're concurrently balancing deltas and making sure the portfolio is delta neutral.

Another understated risk of delta hedging is the fact that hedging is ultimately subjective — which can result in overhedging. This is a situation where traders preemptively overtime the downside risk and spend excess to hedge their portfolio. The end result is a huge delta hedge that eats into profits without taking into account the directional risk involved.

Is It Profitable to Delta Hedge Your Crypto Portfolio?

There's much discussion to be had when it comes to profitability from delta hedging one's portfolio. As previously mentioned, it can be healthy for your crypto portfolio if you're delta hedging, but it requires keen decision-making and knowledge of options mechanics to make it worthwhile. Ultimately, the decision to delta hedge your crypto portfolio comes down to your personal preference, and whether the potential profit and protection from volatility are worth the time and effort you put in.

The Bottom Line

All in all, delta hedging should definitely be attempted if you're well-versed in both options trading and the mechanics that go into their premium pricing. While seen as a huge time sink by some, delta hedging acts like actively managed insurance for more risk-conscious investors and traders. Since it requires constant vigilance and up-to-date information on the markets, delta hedging is certainly not for the faint of heart. However, look past its intricacies and you'll discover a hugely useful risk-mitigation strategy that shields your portfolio from downside costs, without the risk of unwinding your existing positions.

For more on learning about options, please check out our in-depth article that covers the mechanics of options pricing. Alternatively, if you're interested in mastering risk management, our guide to crypto trading risk management will suit your needs. Get started with trading USDC options on Bybit today by first signing up for a Bybit account.

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