“Institutional money is coming!” – has been the outcry in the crypto scene lately. CBOE and CME have announced their plans to introduce Bitcoin futures (and other derivatives where you also do not have to buy Bitcoin to trade, eventually). NASDAQ has followed with a Q2 2018 futures promise.
Commenters have been divided in their forecasts – some say the institutional investors trading on large conventional exchanges will strengthen Bitcoin, other warn that most futures and derivatives are created for shorting, and Bitcoin price can be manipulated, BTC will tank and they will profit off of it.
Here’s the full comparative table of all market players that announced their interest in Bitcoin futures or derivative products:
| CME | CBOE | NASDAQ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start date | 17 | 10 | Q2 2018 |
| Ticker | BTC | XBT | TBA |
| Working hours | Open Sunday at 5 pm Chicago time and close at 4 pm on Friday. | 9:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Eastern time on Mondays and 9:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m Tuesday through Friday. Extended hours 6 p.m. Sunday to 9:30 a.m. Monday, and 4:30 p.m. Monday through to 9:30 a.m. Friday. | TBA |
| Margin | 35.00% | 30.00% | TBA |
| Settlement | USD | USD | TBA |
| Clearing | CME ClearPort | Options Clearing Corporation | TBA |
| Contract size | 5 bitcoins | 1 bitcoin | TBA |
| Pricing | CME Bitcoin Reference rate (data from Bitstamp, GDAX, itBit and Kraken) | Single auction 2100 GMT @ Gemini | TBA |
| Contract expirations | Monthly contracts | Four weekly contracts | TBA |
| Price limits & halts | Will apply circuit breakers to its bitcoin futures of 7 percent, 13 percent, and 20 percent to the futures fixing price. Trading not be allowed outside of the 20 percent price limit. | Halt for 2 minutes if the best bid in the XBT futures contract closest to expiration is 10 percent or more above or below the daily settlement price of that contract on the prior business day. | TBA |
Some of the Twitter’s responses that outline all the possible outcomes:
We have a sudden boom in BTC just before a major exchange comes out with shorting.
Troubling.
Not good for anyone. Fundimentals matter and when they are abandoned… trouble.
Remember housing in 2008?
Speculation without fundimentals rarely ends well.— Dr Craig S Wright (@ProfFaustus) December 7, 2017
The more the #bitcoin price rallies before the launch of the CME futures market, the more I feel the price will get crushed on its launch.
— Jeremy Gardner (@Disruptepreneur) December 7, 2017
Will futures trading mess with #Bitcoin or will Bitcoin mess with futures trading?
— Max Keiser (@maxkeiser) December 7, 2017
BOOM: GOLDMAN SACHS IS SAID TO DECIDE TO CLEAR BITCOIN FUTURES
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) December 7, 2017
And yes, Goldman Sachs plans to enter Bitcoin futures heavily.