The First U.S. Bitcoin Futures • Bitcoin futures are now available for trading on the Cboe Futures Exchange, LLC (CFE). CFE launched trading in Cboe bitcoin futures on December 10 under the ticker symbol "XBT". This brings many benefits to traders, including transparency, efficient price discovery, deep liquidity and centralized clearing. XBT futures provides a centralized marketplace for participants to trade based on their view of bitcoin prices, gain exposure to bitcoin prices or hedge their existing bitcoin positions.
The related press release said,
Cboe Plans December 10 Launch of Bitcoin Futures Trading • CHICAGO – December 4, 2017 – Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe: CBOE | Nasdaq: CBOE), one of the world’s largest exchange holding companies, today announced that Cboe Futures Exchange (CFE), plans to offer trading in bitcoin futures beginning at 5:00 p.m. CT on Sunday, December 10, 2017, at the start of Global Trading Hours. Monday, December 11, will be the first full day of trading, and trading will be free through December.
Cboe’s bitcoin futures will trade on CFE under the ticker symbol 'XBT'. XBT [SM] futures are cash-settled contracts based on Gemini’s auction price for bitcoin, denominated in U.S. dollars. Gemini Trust Company, LLC (Gemini) is a digital asset exchange and custodian that allows customers to buy, sell, and store digital assets such as bitcoin. XBT futures are specifically designed to allow participants to implement straightforward trading strategies, through settlement to a single, tradeable auction price.
Ed Tilly, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cboe Global Markets, said: "Given the unprecedented interest in bitcoin, it’s vital we provide clients the trading tools to help them express their views and hedge their exposure. We are committed to encouraging fairness and liquidity in the bitcoin market. To promote this, we will initially offer XBT futures trading for free."
Tyler Winklevoss, Chief Executive Officer of Gemini, said: "Developing a regulated derivatives market is the next logical and crucial step towards advancing the broader digital asset market. We have been working for years to build infrastructure to grow the digital asset market and today’s news marks a significant milestone."
On Friday, December 1, Cboe announced that CFE had filed a product certification with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to offer bitcoin futures trading. More information on XBT futures is available at www.cboe.com/xbt.
Over the last five years, the total value of all bitcoin outstanding (i.e., "market capitalization") has grown from less than $1 billion to over $183 billion with daily notional turnover over $10 billion. The total value of all cryptocurrency tokens outstanding is now approximately $332 billion.
The link www.cboe.com/xbt returns the main product page I gave above. That last paragraph of the press release has a footnote that says,
All data given as of December 1, 2017, source: https://coinmarketcap.com/
The Coinmarketcap.com link, which I can't remember seeing before, currently lists 1360 cryptocurrencies, sorted in descending order by market cap ('Total Market Cap: $583,439,429,633'); that's $583.4 billion! Has the introduction of futures dampened the explosive price rise of bitcoin? Not exactly. Here's a bitcoin price chart for the first week of futures trading.
As for what the pundits are saying, I'll cover that in my next two posts, 'Bitcoin in the News : 2017-12 Price++'.
No comments:
Post a Comment