CME Becomes Biggest Bitcoin Futures Exchange as Institutional Interest Rises
CME Becomes Biggest Bitcoin Futures Exchange as Institutional Interest Rises
Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has taken the prime spot on the list of the biggest bitcoin futures trading platforms, indicating a continued rise in institutional participation.
- With an open interest of $2.1 billion, the CME accounted for 19.09% of the global tally of $11 billion on Wednesday – the highest among major exchanges tracked by Skew, a crypto derivatives research firm.
- OKEx was the second-biggest exchange with an open interest of $1.97 billion, while Binance, the word’s biggest crypto spot exchange by trading volume, ranked third with $1.82 billion.
- Open interest refers to the number of contracts traded but not squared off with an offsetting position.
- Looking back a year, the size of the futures market was quite small. Global open interest stood at $3 billion on Jan. 7, 2020, of which, the CME contributed just 7% or $224 million.
- The CME has steadily climbed ranks over the past 12 months and more so over the past three months alongside bitcoin’s meteoric price rally from $10,000 to record highs above $37,000.
- The exchange is considered synonymous with institutional trading, as they prefer to trade futures of any product via an established and regulated exchange like the CME.
