CBOE Abruptly Stops Bitcoin Futures Amid Low Volume, CME Rolls On

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The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) says it will not offer new Bitcoin futures contracts in March. CBOE’s official announcement reads,

“CFE is not adding a Cboe Bitcoin (USD) (“XBT”) futures contract for trading in March 2019. CFE is assessing its approach with respect to how it plans to continue to offer digital asset derivatives for trading. While it considers its next steps, CFE does not currently intend to list additional XBT futures contracts for trading. Currently listed XBT futures contracts remain available for trading.”

Bitcoin futures trading started on CBOE on December 10th, 2017. CBOE settled its contracts in US dollars, giving investors a way to speculate on whether the price of Bitcoin will rise or fall without having to actually own any BTC.

As reported by New York-based crypto research boutique firm TradeBlock, CBOE lost a significant amount of market share to competitor Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).

TradeBlock says,

“While Bitcoin futures trading volume initially saw significant growth each month following inception, spot trading activity was steadily declining during this same time period. Given these divergent trends, total futures trading volume across the CME and Cboe reached near parity with total spot trading volume across five of the largest US accessible digital currency exchanges.”

“These findings highlight that futures trading activity has declined significantly since reaching a peak in the Summer of 2018.”

Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, continues to push for approval of Bakkt, which will launch physically-settled Bitcoin futures. The exchange is hoping to gain approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission later this year.