Bitcoin Futures Interest Drops Amid Talks Of Financial Market Closure

The cryptocurrency news and rumors in the financial markets today show that there may be a potential closure if the instability continues. Despite the record high volatility in Bitcoin (BTC), we can see that derivatives traders appear to be pulling money out of the market and a “rush to cash” becomes a theme for the financial markets. In addition to this, the Bitcoin futures interest drops as some of the largest players on the markets are fighting the idea of temporary market closure.

Additionally, we can see that the aggregated open interest (OI) across all major futures exchanges indicates a crypto market crash combined with the ongoing panic in the financial markets. This is why the Bitcoin futures interest is at its lowest and why traders are rushing to other markets.

Additionally, the Bitcoin price news show that BTC is not stable and still trading in the $5,000 region with even more losses on the day. If this type of momentum sustains, we can see BTC dropping and going to even lower levels above $5,000.

When we take a look at the more retail-focused BitMEX exchange, we can see that the Bitcoin futures interest is down both in BTC and USD terms, even after the major crypto market crash which took place on March 12.

The lower interest also follows the news that physical trading floors across the globe are being shut down. So far, this includes the CME and CBOE markets in Chicago as well as the London Metal Exchange (LME) while the trading on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is still open.

Furthermore, there have been a lot of speculations as to whether traditional financial markets may be shut down amid the unprecedented selling that has taken place over the past few days. As the Wall Street Journal reported, there are some possibilities of a market shutdown (raised during a conference call between the Bank of England’s governor Andrew Bailey and several other managers). If this happens, a market shutdown might also halt the Bitcoin futures and options trading at the CME, but other exchanges may remain unaffected.

Despite all of this, the CEO of the CMEGroup does not think that the market should shut down. The Bitcoin futures interest could therefore remain on a higher level, as more people are joining this stance.

.@CMEGroup CEO Terry Duffy doesn't think the market should shut down amid #coronavirus turmoil, but suggests tightening the circuit breakers to get to halts sooner; he also says liquidity in the markets isn't a problem in this @CNBC interview yesterday https://t.co/lck4Bp553o

— LynneMarek (@LynneMarek) March 17, 2020