UBS, the Swiss banking group with over $7 trillion in assets under management, reported a more than 24-fold quarterly increase in call option exposure tied to BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) in the second quarter, according to a regulatory filing this week.
Call options give the holder the right to acquire shares at a later date at a set price. UBS reported calls representing 1.95 million underlying IBIT shares as of June 30, up from 80,000 three months earlier.
The increase came alongside a rise in UBS's outright IBIT holdings, which grew about 12%. The bank separately held 407,890 IBIT shares worth about $13.6 million, compared with 364,371 shares at the end of the first quarter, according to its Q1 filing. Its direct IBIT position remained below the 548,614 shares reported at the end of 2025, per its fourth-quarter filing.
Put Options Decline
Put option exposure, which gives UBS the right but not the obligation to sell IBIT at a set date and price, moved in the opposite direction. UBS reported puts representing 143,300 underlying shares, down about 53% from 303,300 at the end of March.
