BTC Options Launch Nears As CME Open Interest Hits 7-Month High

The Bitcoin futures traders have generated more than $20 billion in daily volume last week, the latest cryptocurrencies news show. The update came after two new BTC options products prepared to hit the market in an update that is about to motivate a lot of traders and analysts.

According to new reports released by the futures provider CME Group on January 9, the futures contracts alone saw open interest that is almost 70% higher than at the end of 2019. The open interest was the among the highest recorded last week, only lagging behind the peaks seen at the end of June, when BTC/USD was circling its local highs of $13,800. The past seven days also saw a price uptick and neared $8,400.

As a lot of Bitcoin price news outlets reported, the interest has surged in the run-up to CME that released its Bitcoin futures options. A launch could come as soon as Monday but is still subject to “regulatory approval” as officials claimed. The data is already set for release and can be found on the company’s website.

On Saturday, however, the Bitcoin derivatives exchange FTX quietly rolled out the new BTC options products. According to aggregate volume data for the Bitcoin futures products by the analyst Skew Markets, trading on global futures markets crossed the $200 billion mark on January 8 alone.

The analyst also added that the figures were not exhaustive, suggesting that the actual total may be slightly higher. Right now, the exchanges Huobi and OKEx are dominating the market in terms of volume along with the market giant BitMEX.

Meanwhile, FTX is also seeing calls for Bitcoin trading at $12,000 only one month after the block reward halving in May. The calls are now priced at $430 – in other words, for every $430 above the $12,000 threshold, the investor returns are doubling.

The market news today illustrate that the total market cap of cryptocurrencies globally is at $215 billion and the 24 hour volume is $75 billion. BTC has retraced back to $8,092 and ETH and XRP also fell, going to $143 and $0.2112 respectively.

The only gainer in the top 10 market so far is Bitcoin Cash (BCH) which managed to rise by 1.62% and is now at $162. There are no current gainers in the top 20 charts.