According to an official news release posted on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group official website, it will begin offering Bitcoin futures contract options in January. The CME Group has announced that it is ready for the offering, which is now solely dependent on approval from regulatory authorities.
The platform prides itself on being the first to launch Bitcoin futures back in 2017 and has noted a few milestones it achieved in a bid to prove its readiness for the new offering. The CME says it’s already pulled in average daily trades of over 6,500 Bitcoin contracts in 2019 alone, equal to 32,500 BTC. It also says it has more than 3,500 individual accounts in active trades and has a wide enough spread as 47 percent of its entire trading volume comes from interested traders who are not in the U.S.
Speaking on the need for the new option, CME Global Head of Equity Index and Alternative Investment Products Tim McCourt has suggested that there has been a demand which the company now plans to satisfy.
“Since the launch of our Bitcoin futures nearly two years ago, clients have expressed a growing interest in options as another way to hedge and trade in these markets. We have worked closely with clients and the industry to establish a robust and increasingly liquid underlying futures market here at CME Group, and we believe Bitcoin options will now offer our customers greater precision and flexibility to manage their risk.”
According to earlier revealed details, the CME plans that the new feature will be handled in U.S. Dollars and will be based on a CME futures contract – which comprises five BTC. It will also be traded from Sunday 17:00 Central Time to Friday 16:00 Central Time.
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