How Does Gate’s U.S. Stock Options Product Work?
Crypto exchange Gate has expanded further into traditional markets with the launch of U.S. stock options, allowing eligible users to trade calls and puts on nine large U.S. companies without leaving its existing app.
The service went live on Sept. 2 with options linked to Nvidia, Tesla, Apple, Meta Platforms, Advanced Micro Devices, Micron Technology, Amazon, Alphabet and Broadcom. Gate said it plans to add more stock and ETF options over time.
Users need the latest version of the Gate app and an activated stock account, but they do not need to open a separate U.S. brokerage or margin account specifically for the options service. Traders select a call or put, choose an expiration date and strike price, pay the required premium and track the position through Gate’s options interface.
Trading is initially limited to regular U.S. market hours between 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Eastern Time. Gate does not currently offer pre-market or after-hours trading for the options product.
The front-end experience resembles a crypto product, but the contracts depend on traditional U.S. securities infrastructure behind the scenes.
Why Is Gate’s Settlement Structure Different?
Gate does not deliver shares when an option is exercised or expires in the money. Instead, customer positions are cash settled in USDT, with Gate paying the applicable difference under its product rules.
That means users do not need enough cash to purchase the underlying shares at exercise and do not receive stock into their Gate accounts. The structure is therefore materially different from the standard customer experience for U.S. equity options, where exercise and assignment typically involve the delivery or receipt of the underlying shares.
Gate also uses a settlement timetable that differs from the official market close. The exchange says it processes settlement approximately 30 minutes before the official settlement time to accommodate what it describes as upstream broker settlement arrangements.
The settlement value is based on the average price of the underlying stock during that 30-minute period rather than the final traded price or the stock’s price at the official settlement point.
That distinction can matter for options close to their strike price. A sharp move during the final 30 minutes of the session could leave Gate’s settlement value materially different from the official closing price traders see elsewhere.
Investor Takeaway
The most important features are not the zero commission headline. Gate settles positions in USDT, does not deliver shares and calculates settlement before the official close, creating a different payoff structure from conventional U.S. equity options.
Who Is The Upstream Broker Behind The Product?
Gate acknowledges that an upstream broker is involved in the settlement process, but neither its launch announcement nor its options documentation identifies that provider.
The omission is notable because Gate has previously disclosed at least part of the infrastructure supporting its broader U.S. equity business. The exchange began offering direct U.S. stock and ETF trading in June, and Alpaca subsequently announced a partnership covering U.S. equities, IPO access and tokenized stocks.
There is no public confirmation, however, that the same relationship extends to Gate’s new options service. The current documentation does not identify Alpaca or any other brokerage as the provider handling the options infrastructure.
That contrasts with Binance’s recent entry into U.S. stock options. Alpaca publicly announced on Sept. 1 that it was powering Binance’s product, making the brokerage relationship clear from launch.
The identity of Gate’s provider matters because the brokerage layer can potentially be involved in market access, order execution, options permissions, clearing relationships and exercise processing. Knowing which firm performs those functions would make it easier to understand where Gate’s own role ends and regulated securities infrastructure begins.
What Does Gate’s TradFi Expansion Mean For Traders?
Gate is making price a central selling point. The exchange currently charges no platform fee, options commission or exercise and assignment fee, although customers still pay charges passed through from U.S. regulatory and clearing organizations.
Purchases currently carry approximately $0.0373 per contract in OCC clearing, Options Regulatory Fee and Consolidated Audit Trail charges. Sales include those costs plus an SEC fee based on the option premium and a FINRA Trading Activity Fee. Gate says it passes the charges through without adding a profit margin.
The fees provide another indication of the traditional-market infrastructure behind a product funded and settled in USDT.
The launch follows a rapid expansion of Gate’s traditional asset offering. After adding U.S. equities on June 1, the company expanded into Hong Kong stocks and has promoted access to more than 11,500 stock-related instruments across the two markets.
Options move that strategy beyond straightforward equity exposure into leveraged, time-sensitive derivatives. A customer can increasingly move between crypto, stocks and stock options inside a single crypto-funded environment.
For traders, however, the structure matters as much as convenience. The unanswered brokerage question, USDT cash settlement and use of a pre-close pricing window mean Gate’s product should not automatically be treated as identical to holding a conventional U.S. equity option through a traditional broker.
Gate is making Wall Street products look more like crypto products at the interface. The launch also shows that the underlying brokerage machinery has not disappeared. It has simply become less visible to the customer.