ICBIT Derivatives Market (USD/BTC futures trading) - LIVE

[myself]

If ICBIT starts settlement in Litecoins, i leave

and for BTCLTC contracts how the settlements should be done ? settlements in fiat are problematic but LTC solve that problem

[picobit]

If ICBIT starts settlement in Litecoins, i leave

and for BTCLTC contracts how the settlements should be done ? settlements in fiat are problematic but LTC solve that problem

Settlement in BTC would be natural, as for all other ICBIT instruments.

[myself]

Settlement in BTC would be natural, as for all other ICBIT instruments.

if i have to chose i pick ltc

[[Tycho]]

Honestly, I don't actually think that altcoins and forks are important. Bitcoin is the power. The only potentially useful altcoin was NMC, but the project is dead now.

[myself]

are you considering adding other instruments? synthetic index, options, warrants, turbo-warrants

[Fireball]

are you considering adding other instruments? synthetic index, options, warrants, turbo-warrants

Yes, if traders actually want to trade them. You can make a proposal.

[myself]

are you considering adding other instruments? synthetic index, options, warrants, turbo-warrants

Yes, if traders actually want to trade them. You can make a proposal.

a start can be something similar to dollar index

[Stephen Gornick]

Feature request:

Ability for me to cause a new deposit address to be generated for my account.  

Currently, the blockchain shows all my deposits to a single Bitcoin address that get credited to my wallet at ICBIT.

The whole concept of there being a new Bitcoin address for each transaction is so that privacy is maximized.    Because the wallet is a hosted (shared) EWallet, the funds I deposit will likely be withdrawn by someone else, thus there are clues out there that the address is associated with ICBIT deposits and those addresses might get scrutinized further to try to determine the identity or other clues about who is the party responsible.

bump on this feature request.

[Stephen Gornick]

so withdrawal requests which would normally be processed are pending now (because otherwise they may not be able to sustain payout requirements of a BTC/USD-4.13 contract due to settle in a couple of days.

The amount displayed as being available for withdrawal shouldn't be a soft number.  What conditions would cause a withdrawal request to hang as pending, and for how long would the duration be of that status on a withdrawal request? 

[Stephen Gornick]

There's conversation in another thread that is more appropriate here, so I'm quoting a part of it here for discussion.

when you are holding positions that compete with people who can create unlimited contracts and who can see the details of your positions, including available bitcoin.

Is it possible to run an exchange where the exchange operator would not have the ability to enter fabricated orders or to know the positions held in customer accounts?

[Fireball]

There's conversation in another thread that is more appropriate here, so I'm quoting a part of it here for discussion.

when you are holding positions that compete with people who can create unlimited contracts and who can see the details of your positions, including available bitcoin.

Is it possible to run an exchange where the exchange operator would not have the ability to enter fabricated orders or to know the positions held in customer accounts?

There are no people who can create unlimited contracts in ICBIT, simply because payment for these contracts (not the margin requirement, but variation margin payments) would be huge if price goes against those people.

[Fireball]

so withdrawal requests which would normally be processed are pending now (because otherwise they may not be able to sustain payout requirements of a BTC/USD-4.13 contract due to settle in a couple of days.

The amount displayed as being available for withdrawal shouldn't be a soft number.  What conditions would cause a withdrawal request to hang as pending, and for how long would the duration be of that status on a withdrawal request? 

It is a soft number if that account has open positions in futures contracts due to Unrealized Profit/Loss, which is marked to market.

Withdrawal requests are very rarely hanging as pending. When this happens, it's best to contact support to resolve the situation quickly (the reasons are mostly security/safety related).

[Stephen Gornick]

Is there a method for contacting support securely?

e-mail, unless encrypted, is not secure.  Does ICBit support have a GPG key for messages?

[Fireball]

Is there a method for contacting support securely?

e-mail, unless encrypted, is not secure.  Does ICBit support have a GPG key for messages?

It's definitely more secure than posting support requests in this thread :-)

[killerstorm]

Is it possible to run an exchange where the exchange operator would not have the ability to enter fabricated orders or to know the positions held in customer accounts?

Yes, sort of. I described a way to implement something like futures trading on top of colored coins. There are some limitations, of course. Particularly, contracts are capped, they aren't 100% same a futures. (Settlement exactly matches settlement of similar futures contract only if price is within a certain range. E.g. when BTCUSD is between 70 and 100.)

But otherwise, there is a lot of transparency. Basically, operator cannot do much without getting caught; he plays no role between launch and settlement; it is possible to get multiple parties involved, they would need to collude to go rogue.

[Fireball]

4342 contracts of July BTC/USD futures (ticker BUN3) settled 15th of July at $98.26 (MtGox VWAP), total trading volume $158'580.
New contract of a similar type (ultra low trading fee but with a small clearing fee) was successfully launched, it is August BTC/USD futures, ticker BUQ3.

Happy trading!

[boomerlu]

When are we getting a VWAP (or some other mechanism) to set the clearing price? While I'm not personally very concerned as far as my own trading, a better mechanism would add to the legitimacy of the exchange. This is in response to akwfleaspirit, who, while certainly misinformed about a lot, is right that it's way too easy to manipulate the clearing price.

A "clearing cross" like NYSE's open/close crosses might help, and as a bonus you can put in margin called positions so they have access to the hopefully greater liquidity. It's also an established point in time to do lots of liquidity - if you can get traders to gather at these times, you may see more trading overall. A good cross can also simplify trading for those who don't want to babysit their limit orders.

[qxzn]

When are we getting a VWAP (or some other mechanism) to set the clearing price? While I'm not personally very concerned as far as my own trading, a better mechanism would add to the legitimacy of the exchange. This is in response to akwfleaspirit, who, while certainly misinformed about a lot, is right that it's way too easy to manipulate the clearing price.

A "clearing cross" like NYSE's open/close crosses might help, and as a bonus you can put in margin called positions so they have access to the hopefully greater liquidity. It's also an established point in time to do lots of liquidity - if you can get traders to gather at these times, you may see more trading overall. A good cross can also simplify trading for those who don't want to babysit their limit orders.

I was under the impression that BTCUSD futures were already cleared with mtgox vwap.

[boomerlu]

When are we getting a VWAP (or some other mechanism) to set the clearing price? While I'm not personally very concerned as far as my own trading, a better mechanism would add to the legitimacy of the exchange. This is in response to akwfleaspirit, who, while certainly misinformed about a lot, is right that it's way too easy to manipulate the clearing price.

A "clearing cross" like NYSE's open/close crosses might help, and as a bonus you can put in margin called positions so they have access to the hopefully greater liquidity. It's also an established point in time to do lots of liquidity - if you can get traders to gather at these times, you may see more trading overall. A good cross can also simplify trading for those who don't want to babysit their limit orders.

I was under the impression that BTCUSD futures were already cleared with mtgox vwap.

They are settled at Highest Volume Exchange VWAP at expiry, but clear mark-to-market twice a day at the last sale.

Edit: Used to say "Gox VWAP at expiry", this could change going forward.

[random_cat]

Please fix expired certificate before the market moves much.