The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) became the first US derivatives exchange to start trading bitcoin futures on December 10, despite widespread concern surrounding high margin requirements.
According to reports, bitcoin’s inherent volatility and lack of regulatory oversight led CBOE to raise margin requirements to 44% from 33% to hedge protect against possible instability. In spite of this, the price of the futures shot up significantly overnight, a few hours after trading opened, and the value of bitcoin rose to over $16,000.
Fellow exchange CME will also begin to offer futures contracts similar to those traded by CBOE on December 18, with Nasdaq expected to follow suit. Late last week, some of the US’ biggest brokers suggested that they are unwilling to allow the majority of their clients to trade the futures. On Thursday, the chief executive and president of the Futures Industry Association Walt Lukken wrote...
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