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 …

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group has announced the date it expects to launch options on Bitcoin (BTC) futures in a statement on Nov. 12. “In response to growing interest in cryptocurrencies and customer demand for tools to manage bitcoin exposure, CME Group will launch options on Bitcoin futures (BTC) on January 13, 2020,” the company revealed in the announcement. The CME Group said that the upcoming product is still pending regulatory approval. Contract specifications CME Group specified that one Bitcoin futures contract will represent 5 BTC quoted in U.S. dollars, with a block minimum of five contracts. The announcement …

Trading crypto assets, or any market for that matter, is a zero-sum game. When one person wins, someone else must lose, making trading highly competitive. That being said, consistently profitable strategies can be hard to find. Recently, PlanB, a crypto investor and analyst active on Twitter, described a Bitcoin (BTC) trading strategy that yields a stated 7-10% profit annually with limited downside risk. PlanB tweeted, “Bitcoin cash and carry (spot buying BTC and simultaneously future selling for delivery in 1-6 months) will net you 7-10% annualized return .. almost risk free.” PlanB’s strategy can be viewed as a form of …

Bitcoin (BTC) trading is coming under the spotlight this week after another flash crash sparked concerns that traders are manipulating markets. As various social media users noted, including statistician Willy Woo on Nov. 5, unusual occurrences on exchanges give reason to be critical of Bitcoin price movements. Woo: I’m “highly suspicious” of BTC/USD As Cointelegraph reported, last week saw sudden erratic behavior at two exchanges — Deribit and Coinbase Pro — which appeared to influence BTC/USD. On Tuesday, it was CME Group’s Bitcoin futures which continued the trend. In early trading, BTC/USD futures suddenly tanked to below $8,500 before rebounding …

Still in its infancy, the cryptocurrency market currently only offers a fraction of the trading and investment products available in traditional financial markets. Over the past few years, however, the crypto space has continued to develop with products around Bitcoin (BTC) and other crypto assets, such as BitMEX futures and Deribit options. Mainstream financial entities have also continued to enter the growing sector with crypto trading and investment products, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s (CME) cash-settled Bitcoin futures and Bakkt’s physically-settled Bitcoin futures. Back in September 2019, CME announced plans to launch Bitcoin options on its Bitcoin futures trading products …

The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) hasn’t come to bury Ether, it’s come to regulate it. That was the message drawn from Heath Tarbert’s remarks from the stage at Yahoo Finance’s All Markets Summit in New York City on Oct. 10, which could have important consequences for the crypto and blockchain industry. He went on: “It is my view as Chairman of the CFTC that Ether is a commodity, and therefore it will be regulated under the CEA. And my guess is that you will see in the near future Ether-related futures contracts and other derivatives potentially traded.” …

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group recently tweeted that, despite the Bitcoin (BTC) price pullback, customer interest in CME Bitcoin futures remained strong during Q3 2019. CME Bitcoin futures are up 61% vs Q3 2018 On Oct. 9, the CME Group took to Twitter to state that customer interest in CME Bitcoin futures remained strong during Q3 2019, with daily open interest (OI) of over 4,600 contracts, up 61% vs Q3 2018, because of the strong interest of institutional investors. Open interest refers to the total number of outstanding derivative contracts that have not been settled, which rose to 4,629 …

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group expects to see high demand in Asia for its forthcoming Bitcoin (BTC) options product. Tim McCourt, CME Group’s global head of equity index and alternative investment products, told news outlet South China Morning Post on Oct. 10 that the new crypto derivative product is expected to prove as popular as the exchange’s existing BTC futures. Miners will be able to hedge their costs According to the report, as much as half of the volume for CME’s current BTC futures is accounted for by Asian and European traders. McCourt told reporters that the forthcoming options …

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group has no current plans to launch physically settled Bitcoin (BTC) contracts, a senior executive has said. Tim McCourt, its global head of equity index and alternative investment products, told MarketsMedia on Oct. 1 that all new contracts or products are driven by customer demand. CME’s new options will be settled in BTC futures CME has been trading BTC futures since December 2017 and recently revealed plans to launch options in the first quarter of 2020, pending regulatory review. Its current Bitcoin futures contracts are settled in cash. McCourt said that “the number one demand …

Just a decade ago, speculating on cryptocurrency prices meant figuring out a way to buy Bitcoin (BTC) and add it to your blockchain wallet. This was a feat that was worthy of bragging rights: In 2010, there were few exchanges, low liquidity and barely any infrastructure, meaning that crypto was less a financial instrument and more a digital novelty. Larger centralized exchanges unlocked the idea that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have relative value and made it possible to speculate on their value versus fiat currency. Since then, a slow proliferation of a variety of crypto derivatives has transpired. This has …

After more than a year spent ensuring full compliance with the United States authorities, Bakkt, the first federally regulated platform for Bitcoin (BTC) futures trading, launched on September 23. Conceived by the global trading giant Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and counting a solid portfolio of investors from Microsoft’s venture fund M12 to Starbucks as its backers, Bakkt offers institutional traders something brand new. The platform’s value proposition is physically-settled BTC futures contracts, combined with a sound custodial service approved by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Assuming that it is digital assets’ volatility and lack of regulatory safeguards that deters otherwise …

New research this week has added to suspicions that futures settlement dates end up manipulating the Bitcoin (BTC) price. Bitcoin drops 75% of the time before futures expire According to findings from Arcane Research reported by Norwegian crypto news outlet Kryptografen on Sept. 24, CME Group’s Bitcoin futures settlement dates, in particular, appear to negatively influence BTC markets. Analyzing price behavior from January 2018 to August 2019, the company found that 75% of the times immediately before CME issued payouts, Bitcoin fell. CME was one of the first operators to launch Bitcoin futures in December 2017. Since then, interest has …