Chicago Board Options Exchange Delists Bitcoin Futures
Documents from the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) show that no new contracts were added for its “XBT” Bitcoin futures for March 2019, effectively delisting the BTC derivative.
The Chicago Future Exchange (CFE) has effectively delisted its bitcoin futures according to a Mar. 7th document describing products being added and removed for the upcoming month.
“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.”
Futures are a financial instrument, a contract to buy specific quantities of a commodity at a specified price with a delivery set at a specified time in the future, that is often used by miners and businesses to hedge against bitcoin volatility.
The reason for the delisting, according to the director of research at TradeBlock:
That's cause Cboe bitcoin futures trading volumes have been getting crushed by CME. pic.twitter.com/4dpi9Tfuwg
— John Todaro (@JohnTodaro1) March 14, 2019
Meanwhile, sentiment from the crypto community is mixed. Some describe the delisting as “capitulation,” as described by one Redditor:
“CME June contract settles at [$]3840. You think we’ll be anywhere near that in June? No. The short side gets slaughtered… CBOE is smart to cut and run now before things get really ugly and embarrassing. Embarrassing? Yeah, imagine some bigshot financier explaining to his shareholders that his fund is bankrupt because they shorted Bitcoin.”
It’s unclear how the decision will impact the overall liquidity, price, and access to bitcoin—with much of that impact hinging upon the nature of how the futures were structured in the CFE. More details will be provided as the story unfolds.
Bitcoin Market Data
At the time of press 1:19 am UTC on Apr. 6, 2020, Bitcoin is ranked #1 by market cap and the price is up 0.41% over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin has a market capitalization of $71.56 billion with a 24-hour trading volume of $10.04 billion. Learn more about Bitcoin ›
Crypto Market Summary
At the time of press 1:19 am UTC on Apr. 6, 2020, the total crypto market is valued at at $142.26 billion with a 24-hour volume of $35.1 billion. Bitcoin dominance is currently at 50.30%. Learn more about the crypto market ›