Interest in Bitcoin options from CME, one of the largest financial institutions in Wall Street, is enjoying a healthy rebound after the crypto's third halving.
The Block has reported that trading volumes and open interest in CME's BTC options, which were launched earlier this year, have increased significantly since Monday, when the largest crypto by market cap successfully completed its third halving by reducing the reward given to miners for mining a block from 12.5 to 6.25 Bitcoins.
CME said through a blog post that the halving, which took place on May 11, is different from previous halvings because market conditions are not the same. Thus, the derivatives market is much larger now than it was when the two previous halvings were completed, while the availability of options and futures on US regulated platforms such as CME is also much greater. For instance, miners can use Bitcoin options to hedge their exposure to the crypto as well as to earn extra income.
Both trading volumes and open interest in CME options were really low before the halving. Thus, open interest rose from $35M on May 11 to $142M just 3 days later, while the number of contracts traded hit a record 878 on May 13.
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