CBOE will begin trading bitcoin futures at 5 pm Central Time on Sunday, Dec. 10, 2017, at the start of Global Trading Hours.
CBOE’s bitcoin futures will trade on CFE under the ticker symbol ‘XBT.’ XBTSMfutures are cash-settled contracts based on Gemini’s auction price for bitcoin, denominated in U.S. dollars.
Gemini Trust Company, LLC (Gemini) is a digital asset exchange and custodian that allows customers to buy, sell, and store digital assets such as bitcoin. XBT futures are specifically designed to allow participants to implement straightforward trading strategies, through settlement to a single, tradeable auction price.
On Wednesday, the price of one bitcoin briefly surged to a new all-time high over $13,000.
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CBOE Global Markets chairman/CEO Ed Tilly said given the unprecedented interest in bitcoin, it’s vital they provide clients the trading tools to help them express their views and hedge their exposure.
“We are committed to encouraging fairness and liquidity in the bitcoin market,” Tilly said. “To promote this, we will initially offer XBT futures trading for free.”
Trading will be free through the end of December 2017, according to CBOE.
Gemini CEO Tyler Winklevoss said: “Developing a regulated derivatives market is the next logical and crucial step towards advancing the broader digital asset market. We have been working for years to build infrastructure to grow the digital asset market and today’s news marks a significant milestone.”
On Friday, December 1, Cboe announced that CFE had filed a product certification with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to offer bitcoin futures trading.
Over the last five years, the total value of all bitcoin outstanding (i.e., “market capitalization”) has grown from less than $1 billion to over $183 billion with daily notional turnover over $10 billion. The total value of all cryptocurrency tokens outstanding is now approximately $332 billion.
For more information on the cryptocurrency market, visit our Bitcoin category.