Online broker-dealer and futures commission merchant TradeStation Group, Inc., a fully owned subsidiary of Monex Group, Inc. (TYO:8698), just announced that eligible futures clients can now trade the new Bitcoin futures contract being offered by Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Nasdaq: CBOE).
Chicago-based Cboe commenced trading in the contract (ticker symbol XBT) on its Cboe Futures Exchange (CFE) at 5:00 p.m. CT on Sunday, December 10, at the start of Cboe’s Global Trading Hours. Today is the first full day of trading, and CFE will waive exchange execution fees through the end of December.
As a CFE-listed product, Bitcoin futures provide a risk management tool for market participants seeking to hedge their underlying Bitcoin holdings with contracts that settle directly to underlying daily closing Bitcoin auction prices of the Gemini digital asset exchange. With trading properties similar to index futures contracts, Bitcoin futures also offer traders a speculative instrument based on Bitcoin prices.
To maximize transparency and real-time replicability, the XBT futures will be a cash-settled contract based on a U.S.-dollar-denominated auction price set by Gemini Trust Company, LLC, a digital asset exchange and custodian that allows customers to buy, sell and store digital assets such as Bitcoin.
According to CFE, “XBT futures are specifically designed to allow participants to implement straightforward trading strategies, through settlement to a single, tradeable auction price.”
Edward T. Tilly
Our role as a market operator is to provide a neutral and safe place for market participants to express their opinion and transfer risk,” said Ed Tilly, Chairman and CEO, Cboe Global Markets. “Additionally, building critical mass in an entirely new market is essential for its development and having firms such as TradeStation, a leading online retail FCM, participating early on can help spur the maturation of the crypto space.
We’re excited to offer eligible TradeStation futures clients the ability to trade the first Bitcoin futures contract offered by a major U.S. exchange,” said John Bartleman, President of TradeStation Group, Inc. “The remarkable rise in Bitcoin prices in the past year, coupled with the entry of CFTC-regulated exchanges like Cboe into the cryptocurrency markets, has generated intense interest among active traders and speculators. TradeStation offers futures traders the tools that will help them navigate these emerging markets.
In addition to Bitcoin futures trading, TradeStation’s futures offering is now available at simplified low-cost pricing of $1.50 per contract, per side (plus exchange execution, clearing and regulatory fees), with no monthly software fees and free premium analysis tools and real-time market data.
TradeStation also recently added flexible overnight margin requirements and a futures interestsharing program that generates interest on account holders’ average daily cash balance at a rate nearly 25 times higher than other leading brokers.