In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Terry Duffy, the chairman and CEO of CME Group, said that in his memory (and he works in futures trading for 40 years) the launch of the first cryptocurrency futures was the most debatable decision the exchange has ever made. Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) needs to evaluate and develop an approach to bitcoin (Bitcoin) first, Duffy explained, stressing that altcoin futures cannot be set so quickly because they are even more volatile than bitcoins and his company cannot afford to list products just to watch what happens to them.
CME, the world's largest stock exchange operator, began offering bitcoin futures in December 2017, immediately after the launch of a similar product at the Chicago Stock Exchange (CBOE ). According to the most recent statistics from the CME, the average daily volume of bitcoin futures grew by 93% in the second quarter. It turns out that Terry Duffy makes a bad face with a good game
On July 25, the average daily trading volume (ADV) of bitcoin futures at the CME has reached an all-time high as 12,878 contracts were recorded based on 64 thousand BTC at the sum of around $530 million.
Nevertheless the contracts for Bitcoin futures available at CME a set to expire today July 27, following the previous tendency the bitcoin price is trading in the red zone. Falling under the psychological mark of $8,000 it reached 2 days prior.
The futures contract allows institutions and traders to bet on the future performance of assets (long or short assets)
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
1. In addition to bitcoin, there are many other cryptocurrencies worth trading on the exchanges. They are in no way inferior to bitcoin, and often far ahead of the first crypto, showing better results for transaction speed and, for example, offering the ability to use smart contracts
2. CME Group is not the most active player in the bitcoin futures market. At the moment, the CBOE has opened 5,881 contracts for bitcoin, for CME - 3,063. On the other hand, CME contracts open daily for 15 317 BTC. This is more than twice the amount of transactions at the CBOE.