Bitcoin futures trading volume on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group’s platform is posting record numbers this year.
Current BTC futures trading activity is at its highest since August 2018. Bitcoin has surged dramatically since the beginning of the year, from around $3,150 in December 2018 to a yearly high of nearly $14,000. BTC is currently trading at $9,600 at time of writing.
The uptick in interest among crypto traders is due to more favorable market conditions, after a prolonged bear market throughout 2018.
CME Group managing director and global head of equity products and alternative investments Tim McCourt tells Forbes,
“Year-to-date, bitcoin futures are averaging 7,237 contracts per day, which is a 132% increase from the same period last year,”
The CME and the Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe) introduced USD-settled Bitcoin futures trading contracts in December 2017. At that time, BTC futures were considered one of the first major steps toward bringing Bitcoin-based trading options to mainstream traders and investors.
In May 2019, CME’s platform traded an average of over 13,600 daily BTC contracts, which is around $515 million in notional value or about 68,000 bitcoins, McCourt confirms.
Says McCourt,
“On May 13, BTC traded a record single-day volume of 33,677 contracts (168K equivalent bitcoin or $1.3B notional).”
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