March 29, 2024

CME Launches Bitcoin Options Trading

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has announced the launch of bitcoin options trading.Trading was opened on January 13 at18:00 Moscow time.

Options on Bitcoin futures contracts werelaunched on the CME Globex platform at 18:00 Moscow time on January 13. Each futures contract equals 5 BTC in US dollars, and a block contains a minimum of five contracts.

Contracts are clearedcentrally to avoid the risks that counterparties bear. CME relies on trade flow data from several large regulated BTC exchanges to accurately track the price of cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrency derivatives are available on manycryptocurrency exchanges since at least 2014. However, CME was one of the first platforms to offer regulated products to investors — the exchange launched its Bitcoin futures in December 2017.

According to data collected by the analytics firmSkew, daily Bitcoin options trading volumes topped $90 million last week. About 95% of all trades last year took place on Dutch exchange Deribit, which announced last week it was moving its operations to Panama, citing regulatory concerns.

Let us remind you that at the end of last week the exchangecryptocurrency derivatives FTX has launched Bitcoin options trading. According to the general director of the site, in about 2 hours the trading volume of options reached $1 million.

CME announces tentative launch dateBitcoin options last November. At the same time, the exchange announced that the options being prepared for launch would be in high demand among Asian traders and miners. In October, CME reported that futures were increasingly gaining popularity among institutional investors and unveiled specifications for future BTC options.

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