CME Group Launches Bitcoin Futures Trading

Financial market company CME Group has launched Bitcoin futures trading, as part of its efforts to support the expansion of digital currency.

Monex Group’s online broker-dealer TradeStation said that its futures clients can trade the new Bitcoin futures contrac provided by CME.

TradeStation also noted that its supported the launch of the first Bitcoin futures offering from the US exchange. It helped to provide XBT contract from Cboe Global Markets traded on its Cboe Futures Exchange (CFE).

Current eligible and newly funded TradeStation futures account holders can trade on both the CFE and CME Bitcoin futures contracts.

Based on the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate (BRR), the new CME contract is cash-settled in US dollars.

CME Group and Crypto Facilities will involve in the calculation and publication of BRR,, which combines the trade flow of major Bitcoin spot exchanges during a calculation window into the U.S. dollar price of one Bitcoin.

At the starting of this year, TradeStation also extended support for real-time market data for CME’s two Bitcoin indices, including BRR and the CME CF Bitcoin Real Time Index.

TradeStation Group president John Bartleman said: “We believe that CME’s launch of the new Bitcoin futures contract represents a major milestone in the development of cryptocurrency derivatives markets that appear to be more fair and transparent than trading the underlying cryptocurrency.

“We’re excited to support CME’s new offering from the first day of trading and to extend to TradeStation clients the opportunity to trade this emerging market.”

 TradeStation Securities provides analysis and trading platform to the active trader and certain institutional trader markets.

The platform will allow clients to design, test, optimize, monitor and automate their own custom equities, options and futures trading strategies.

Image: CME Group has launched Bitcoin futures trading. Photo: courtesy of thesomeday1234 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.