Calmer start for bitcoin futures on CME, the world’s biggest exchange
Trading was much more efficient — with futures priced only 2% higher than bitcoin itself
New York/Chicago — The world’s biggest exchange just joined the bitcoin revolution. Bitcoin futures started trading at CME’s venue on Sunday night, a week after Chicago rival Cboe Global Markets introduced similar derivatives on the volatile cryptocurrency. CME is a much bigger player in futures, so many traders expect it to make a bigger splash in the nascent space. CME got off to a faster start with more efficient pricing. Its most-active contract changed hands 221 times in the first hour, versus 570 during Cboe’s debut. But that’s a win because CME’s contracts are five times more valuable — they’re tied to five bitcoins compared with only one with Cboe’s futures. And CME’s futures were priced only about 2% higher than bitcoin itself; in the first day, Cboe’s got as much as 13% above, a sign trading was relatively inefficient. Bitcoin surged towards $20,000 in the minutes before trading began at CME, before paring gains. It was priced at $18,336 as CME’s contract fetched $18,610 a...
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