Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Bitcoin futures smashed records in both volume and open interest in May. In a liquidity report, CME Group reveals that May showed massive growth with 223 new trading accounts, making it the most successful month for its Bitcoin futures product since launching in December 2017.
Average daily volume finished at 13,777 contracts, or about $515 million in notional USD-traded value, up 36% since April and 250% year over year.
Says Tom Lee, Fundstrat’s head of research,
“This is very bullish as the rise in Bitcoin futures volume reflects incremental institutional money.”
As CME posts record highs for Bitcoin futures, Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe), which is the world’s largest options market, is stepping away from the market.
In mid-December of 2017, Cboe became the first US exchange to launch Bitcoin futures but now is expected to settle its last Bitcoin futures contract on June 19, following an announcement stating that it would not issue a new Bitcoin futures market in March and that it would reassess trading its derivatives product, Cboe Bitcoin (USD) Futures (XBT).
“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.”
You can download the CME report here and check out the Cboe update here.
