CME Bitcoin Options Volume Doubles One Week After Launch, Hits $5.3M

Bitcoin (BTC) options from CME Group more than doubled their traded volume in the first week after going live, data shows. 

According to figures supplied by the company, Bitcoin options volumes skyrocketed in the seven days since they went live on Jan. 13.

BTC futures options surge higher

As of Jan. 17, volume was 122 contracts, worth 610 BTC ($5.27 million). By comparison, on day one, volume was 55 contracts, or 275 BTC (currently worth $2.37 million). 

Open interest on options stood at 219 contracts on Friday, equivalent to 1,095 BTC ($9.45 million).

Bitcoin options open interest. Source: Skew Markets/ Twitter

As Cointelegraph reported, CME already considered its options a “success” at launch, while commentators subsequently suggested the uptake signaled institutional commitment to Bitcoin futures. 

Futures offerings themselves also saw strong performance as last week ended, with CME seeing total volumes of 7,245 contracts (36,225 BTC or nearly $313 million). Smaller operator Bakkt traded $15.2 million on the day.

The tail end of last week saw a steady decline for Bakkt, according to data from social media monitoring resource Bakkt Volume Bot. 

Binance irks over token burns

Meanwhile, even CME’s volumes would appear to pale in comparison to Binance, currently the subject of controversy among cryptocurrency figures over its giant reported futures statistics.

According to its website, Binance’s Bitcoin futures traded 111,000 BTC ($959 million) in the past 24 hours alone. The volume even dwarfs that of Binance’s spot markets 3:1, recent data suggests.

At the same time, an alleged discrepancy in how Binance burns its in-house token, Binance Coin (BNB), has led one critic to claim foul play on the part of executives. 

Binance says it burns BNB tokens each quarter in relation to its total quarterly profits. In September, this began to include futures products.

In a tweet on Tuesday, however, Tim Copeland, a journalist at crypto media outlet Decrypt, highlighted a change of language in a whitepaper as proof Binance now burned BNB based on volume, not profit. 

“This was quietly removed from its whitepaper some time ago. It was accurate for at least the first year. So the profit estimates may not be accurate,” he warned.