[2017-12-08] The Threat of Bitcoin Futures

[tyz]

The Threat of Bitcoin Futures

CME Group, the largest derivatives exchange in the world, as well as one of the oldest, will launch bitcoin futures trading on Dec. 18th, while CBOE Global Markets, which owns the Chicago Board Options Exchange (the largest U.S. options exchange) and BATS Global Markets, plans to beat CME to the punch by opening its own trading on Dec. 10th.

https://www.coindesk.com/threat-bitcoin-futures/

[CryptoBry]

The Threat of Bitcoin Futures

CME Group, the largest derivatives exchange in the world, as well as one of the oldest, will launch bitcoin futures trading on Dec. 18th, while CBOE Global Markets, which owns the Chicago Board Options Exchange (the largest U.S. options exchange) and BATS Global Markets, plans to beat CME to the punch by opening its own trading on Dec. 10th.

https://www.coindesk.com/threat-bitcoin-futures/

I am personally hoping that Bitcoin Futures would not be a big threat to the continuing growth of Bitcoin since this is a different investment vehicle compared to the traditional ones we already have in the market. Let's see how the market would be behaving when the futures open in coming days. There is really an apprehension coming from many that futures may destroy or at least limit the future of Bitcoin which I hope will not be.

[Kronos21]

Why do you have such decadent mood? I am sure that if people are not profitable, will use futures transactions then they will not do this. The world is not only one of the Chicago stock exchange. Moreover, the position of the US authorities to avoid forcing users to Transact with bitcoin within the jurisdiction of the United States. I'm sure nothing will change. There are many other options.

[eyesopen]

i think it will all play out over the space of a couple of weeks with this new futures trading

its hard to know what will happen even though it is a different format it has to have an effect

good or bad 

personally i think good, in the end there is a limited supply of bitcoin and the supply is constant

>more or less<

[skecrypto]

Hi everyone,

I think that the big investors who own BTC would want to move to the futures market if they think that's a better option, anyway is more secure and regulated than owning BTC due to it's volatility. But they'll need cash and assets to buy or sell a futures contract and we're talking about a lot of money.
Maybe the whales who own BTC will start selling it to have funds for the futures market if they're thinking to join, maybe this is their plan, I really believe that...I don't know but will watch the market closely in the next 2 weeks...

[tyz]

I'm not very decided yet. On the one hand, hedge funds and speculators are now very easily able to bet against Bitcoin, on the other hand, futures can also help stabilize the price and thus improve its mass suitability.
But again to the former point. There are many in the financial world who hate Bitcoin. What if a hedge fund bets $ 500 million with a leverage of 100 against Bitcoin. With a current trading volume of $ 5-8 billion a day, a $ 50 billion short-bet would have a huge impact and probably would let collapse the Bitcoin price.

I am personally hoping that Bitcoin Futures would not be a big threat to the continuing growth of Bitcoin since this is a different investment vehicle compared to the traditional ones we already have in the market. Let's see how the market would be behaving when the futures open in coming days. There is really an apprehension coming from many that futures may destroy or at least limit the future of Bitcoin which I hope will not be.

[Lucius]

I'm not very decided yet. On the one hand, hedge funds and speculators are now very easily able to bet against Bitcoin, on the other hand, futures can also help stabilize the price and thus improve its mass suitability.
But again to the former point. There are many in the financial world who hate Bitcoin. What if a hedge fund bets $ 500 million with a leverage of 100 against Bitcoin. With a current trading volume of $ 5-8 billion a day, a $ 50 billion short-bet would have a huge impact and probably would let collapse the Bitcoin price.

I am personally hoping that Bitcoin Futures would not be a big threat to the continuing growth of Bitcoin since this is a different investment vehicle compared to the traditional ones we already have in the market. Let's see how the market would be behaving when the futures open in coming days. There is really an apprehension coming from many that futures may destroy or at least limit the future of Bitcoin which I hope will not be.

In my opinion bitcoin futures from the whole point of view does not look too promising for BTC,and will probably only bring more manipulation possibilities.Big players with large amounts of money in theory can do whatever they want, and since BTC market unlike some others is still quite financially weak, it can be easily manipulated.

This will be just another test for BTC,this time against the biggest players and their eternal hunger for profit.Do they look at BTC as something that can generate profits in the long run for them,or something for quick profit?

[darkangel11]

Calm down and think about it. The market remains the same and the people remain the same. Bitcoin was available for trading since 2009 and it has succeeded. Now we are opening to a new group of investors, but they are people just like the rest of the investors who were deciding the fate of cryptocurrencies for many years. What makes you think they will not be interested? Every market is full of bears and bulls and when it comes to BTC bulls have been winning for years, moving the prices higher and higher. It will be the same with futures there will be bulls and bears but there will be people willing to jump in, you can be sure of it.

[J. Cooper]

I'm not very decided yet. On the one hand, hedge funds and speculators are now very easily able to bet against Bitcoin, on the other hand, futures can also help stabilize the price and thus improve its mass suitability.
But again to the former point. There are many in the financial world who hate Bitcoin. What if a hedge fund bets $ 500 million with a leverage of 100 against Bitcoin. With a current trading volume of $ 5-8 billion a day, a $ 50 billion short-bet would have a huge impact and probably would let collapse the Bitcoin price.

I am personally hoping that Bitcoin Futures would not be a big threat to the continuing growth of Bitcoin since this is a different investment vehicle compared to the traditional ones we already have in the market. Let's see how the market would be behaving when the futures open in coming days. There is really an apprehension coming from many that futures may destroy or at least limit the future of Bitcoin which I hope will not be.

I'm also unable to make my mind up or even what to think of this. But if I understand futures correctly those big hedgefunds won't actually be getting their hands on real bitcoin, they will be able to speculate on the price of bitcoin with leverage but that's about it. So the normal market and the futures market are not really connected (unless I'm missing something) so as long as no one sells if a big hedge fund goes short on bitcoin we should be fine? I guess we'll see how things will play out tomorrow.

[CyberKuro]

Since bitcoin futures contract using fiat money instead of invest in bitcoin, it's like nothing to do with bitcoin as contract holders just play a game to predict bitcoin price in the future, so yes, no need to worry about it. Bitcoin price can be manipulated, but it isn't easy to get it done as the price determines by bitcoin holders all over the world.
If big whales interested to buy bitcoin after put a bet on the price that will rise up, it's something different.
On the other hand, contract holders who bet the price will fall down may find it difficult to get profits, unless they have tons of bitcoins to dump the market.

[bbc.reporter]

I have posted the same news in the speculation forum but have gotten no reaction from the readers. Maybe they do not see the possible consequences the CME's futures market might bring, becoming the solitary basis for bitcoin's price.

In any case, if Wall Street does not need to buy bitcoin to trade the market, then what is the incentive for traders to buy real bitcoins in the exchanges?

[Harryan Us]

I have posted the same news in the speculation forum but have gotten no reaction from the readers. Maybe they do not see the possible consequences the CME's futures market might bring, becoming the solitary basis for bitcoin's price.

In any case, if Wall Street does not need to buy bitcoin to trade the market, then what is the incentive for traders to buy real bitcoins in the exchanges?

They arent doing it because its good for btc, its good for CBOE and CME, they make money from traders buying and selling contracts.
We are just hoping that it makes btc go more mainstream which would attract more btc adopters.

[J. Cooper]

I have posted the same news in the speculation forum but have gotten no reaction from the readers. Maybe they do not see the possible consequences the CME's futures market might bring, becoming the solitary basis for bitcoin's price.

In any case, if Wall Street does not need to buy bitcoin to trade the market, then what is the incentive for traders to buy real bitcoins in the exchanges?

We'll there are quite a few reasons why one would opt to actually purchase a bitcoin instead of just trading a futures market. Bitcoin futures are solely put in place for big corporations, and CME themselves, to make money of the bitcoin hype. People would want to have bitcoin for it's revolutionary technology or for the limited supply.