Carmine Options Review 2026: Starknet Options AMM

Carmine Options is an automated market maker for options, built on Starknet. It aims to let anyone buy and sell options at a fair price, using pooled liquidity rather than a traditional order book. It has been tracked since June 2023 and has its own token, CARM.

The protocol was built by Carmine Finance, which now describes itself as a DeFi risk and tooling company. Its homepage lists Segmento for user analytics, DeRisk for lending-protocol risk, Konoha for Cairo governance contracts and custom DeFi work. The Options AMM appears there as past work, since the team says it built the frontend and backend.

Total value locked is around $96,000, up 2.7% over seven days. That is small for a derivatives protocol, so liquidity is thin and the venue suits cautious experimentation more than large positions.

An options AMM replaces the order book with liquidity pools. Liquidity providers deposit assets into a pool, and the pool acts as the counterparty when traders buy or sell options. The protocol sets the option price with a formula, and the aim is a fair price for each strike and expiry.

When a trader buys an option, they pay a premium into the pool. If the option finishes in the money, the pool pays out, and if it expires worthless, the pool keeps the premium. Liquidity providers therefore earn premiums in quiet markets and can lose money when prices move sharply.

Carmine's contracts run on Starknet, and an SDK lets developers interact with them. The CARM token is part of the protocol's design, as described in the project's tokenomics article.

Carmine does not publish a fee schedule on its homepage. Options AMMs typically charge through the option premium and sometimes a protocol fee. Users should check the amount shown in the trading interface before confirming.

Starknet network fees apply to every transaction and are paid in the network's gas token. Liquidity providers earn premiums but bear the risk of losses on options the pool has sold.

Two audits are listed for the protocol, but the homepage does not publish the reports or name the auditors. The contracts are non-custodial, so users keep control of funds in their own wallets until they deposit or trade. The usual smart-contract risk still applies, as does the risk of Starknet's own infrastructure.

A small TVL gives little track record to judge, and the team's homepage describes the AMM as past work, so users should verify current maintenance themselves. Licensing and regulatory status are not published. Derivatives are restricted in some jurisdictions, so check local rules before trading.

The protocol suits experienced DeFi users on Starknet who understand options and want an on-chain venue to buy or sell them. It also suits developers who want to build on the open SDK. It is a poor fit for beginners, for anyone who needs deep liquidity, and for users who want an actively marketed product.