The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME Group) operator has cited an increased interest of large investors in the bitcoin futures. As reported, the third quarter of this year has witnessed a hike of 61% in the number of open contracts when contrasted with 2018.
“Despite the pullback in bitcoin prices, customer interest in CME Bitcoin futures remained strong during Q3 with daily OI of over 4.6K contracts, up 61% vs. Q3 2018,” the company posted on Twitter.”
The number of outstanding positions raised from 2873 last year to 4629 this year. Furthermore, in spite of a 25% plunge in bitcoin prices in Q3, the demand for CME BTC futures did not fall more than just 1% when compared to that of the Q2. A 10% rise is experienced in the average number of contracts traded daily. According to CME, the increase is equivalent to 27,70 BTC or $289 million.
Almost 50% of the CME bitcoin futures bitcoin-futures trading volume arose from outside the United States, with 26% originating from the Asia-Pacific region and 21% from Europe and the Middle East. Earlier this year, CME declared the launch of another bitcoin derivative instrument, options on bitcoin futures. Tim McCourt, managing director of the company, stated that they await a high demand for new products from Asian and European traders.
