CME To Launch Bitcoin Options In January

CME Group Inc CME said Tuesday that options on its bitcoin futures contracts would be available starting Jan. 13 next year.

The Chicago-based company said in a statement that the launch will still be subject to appropriate regulatory approval.

“Since the launch of our [bitcoin] futures nearly two years ago, clients have expressed a growing interest in options as another way to hedge and trade in these markets," Tim McCourt, a senior official at CME said in the statement. "We believe [bitcoin] options will now offer our customers greater precision and flexibility to manage their risk."

CME gave details on the bitcoin options in October, as Coindesk reported at the time, but didn’t give a specific date for the launch.

CME, which is the world’s largest exchange for futures trading, started offering bitcoin futures in December 2017 as reported by CNBC, when the cryptocurrency was trading near $20,000. BTC is trading at $8,831, according to CoinMarketCap data as of press time.

The exchange desk said it had seen an average volume of more than 6,500 BTC contracts per day this year, with more than 3,500 individual accounts trading.

CME said that more than 47% of the bitcoin futures trading volume is from outside the U.S.

Price Action

CME’s shares closed 1.43% higher at $201.49 on Tuesday.