Cboe Global Markets Inc. launched bitcoin futures trading Dec. 10 at 6 p.m. ET, opening at $15,000 and trading 890 contracts by 8:15 p.m. ET.
More than 3,000 contracts were traded in total volume through the night. The speed of those trades caused two halts on Cboe's exchange.
Even so, that volume of trades is "incredibly low" compared with other futures contracts, Daniele Bianchi, an assistant professor finance at the Warwick Business School, said in an interview.
Cboe said about 20 trading firms were actively participating in trading. Interactive Brokers Group Inc. said it began offering clients bitcoin futures trading with Cboe's launch and plans to offer bitcoin futures from fellow Chicago-based exchange CME Group Inc., which launches its bitcoin futures Dec. 18.
As of Dec. 11 at 9:15 a.m. ET, Interactive Brokers said 201 of its accounts had placed 1,240 trades in bitcoin futures, totaling 1,429 contracts, or about 50% of the exchange's recorded volume.
The recorded value of all futures trades at Cboe exceeds $50 million, Interactive Brokers said in a statement. The company is charging a commission of $5.01 per contract on Cboe, which is for 1 bitcoin, and $15.01 per contract on CME, which is for 5 bitcoins.
Interactive Brokers is not allowing clients to take short positions against the contracts due to bitcoin's "extreme volatility," it said.
