The Chicago Mercantile Exchange CME reported that bitcoin futures became more popular in the past quarter, and the number of open contracts on the exchange grew by 61% compared to last year.
According to CME Group, this was due to growing demand from institutional investors. The number of open positions increased to 4,629 contracts compared to 2,873 in the third quarter of 2018, the exchange said.
Despite a 25% drop in BTC prices for the quarter, the total amount of unrealized CME contracts fell by only 1% compared to the second quarter. The average daily volume of contracts traded during the quarter amounted to 5,534, which is 10% more than last year. According to the exchange, the amount of contracts is equivalent to 27,670 BTC or $ 289 million.
“Institutional inflows remained strong: 454 new accounts were added, compared to 231 in the third quarter of 2018,” CME notes.
At the same time, about 50% of the trading volume of CME Bitcoin futures in the third quarter was accounted for by regions outside the United States. According to the exchange, 26% of trades were in the Asia-Pacific region and 21% – in Europe and the Middle East.
Recall that CME launched Bitcoin futures in December 2017. Now the volume of daily futures contracts traded on the exchange reaches 7,000, which is equivalent to approximately 35,000 BTC.
Earlier this month, it was reported that the exchange plans to launch cryptocurrency futures options in the first quarter of next year. The other day, CME said it expects high demand for upcoming options for cryptocurrency futures among traders and miners from Asia.
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