The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has received necessary regulatory approval and has launched its new Bitcoin (BTC) futures options as of today, Jan. 13. According to the official website of CME, the new type of Bitcoin derivatives contract — Bitcoin futures options — is now live, which comes in line with the company’s plans announced in November 2019. CME’s Bitcoin futures options was subject to “regulatory approval” earlier in the day Specifically, the launch of CME’s Bitcoin futures options follows regulatory approval that the exchange received earlier today, as reported by Cointegraph. As of press time, the approval notice has …
Paris-based asset management firm Napoleon AM announced the launch of a regulated Bitcoin (BTC) fund, the Napoleon Bitcoin Fund. The company announced in a press release that the fund was created on Nov. 8 and is a specialized professional fund under French law. The company claims that its product is one of the first regulated vehicles giving exposure to Bitcoin’s price movements. The product — with daily liquidity — aims to provide portfolio diversification to institutional and professional investors. The fund replicate the performance of futures listed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in cash settlement. High hopes for Bitcoin’s potential …
Institutional exposure to cryptocurrencies via derivatives continued to grow in the second quarter, as CME Group’s newly launched Bitcoin (BTC) micro contract received considerable uptick in its first two months of trading. Since launching on May 3, CME’s Micro Bitcoin futures contract has already surpassed 1 million contracts traded, the Chicago-based derivatives market announced earlier this week. CME executive Tim McCourt said the new product has been popular among institutions and day traders seeking to hedge their spot Bitcoin price risk. Denominated at 0.1 BTC, the micro contract is one-tenth the size of one Bitcoin. By comparison, CME’s main Bitcoin …
Open interest for Bitcoin options hit their all-time high of $2.14 billion on Sept. 24, a day before a huge quarterly expiry of 89,100 contracts — i.e., 47% of existing options contracts at the time. Options are derivative contracts that give the holder the right (though not an obligation) to purchase or sell an underlying asset at a predetermined price, also known as the “strike price.” Observing the OI trends before every monthly and quarterly expiry, there are spikes just before the date of expiry, and they have been incremental after each expiry, pointing toward the increased liquidity in the …
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), one of the world’s biggest derivatives marketplaces, continues expanding its cryptocurrency derivatives offerings by adding a new Ether (ETH)-based product. CME announced Tuesday that it is planning to launch a micro Ether futures contract, sized at 0.1 ETH, enabling a new type of Ether exposure to institutional and individual traders. The new product will become the fourth crypto derivatives product ever launched by CME and is expected to be rolled out on Dec. 6, 2021, pending regulatory approval. The news comes amid Ether sitting near all-time high levels after the cryptocurrency posted its highest historical …