Futures Trading is not to blame for the Bear Market CME Exec says
Tim McCourt, managing director and global head of equity products and alternative investments at the CME Group, sat down a couple of days ago for a panel regarding derivatives trading at Coindesk’s 2018 Singapore Consensus event, where he stated he believed the launch of futures trading is not to be blamed for the retracement of price across the cryptocurrency market.
“We are just a small part of the market.”
McCourt shared his insights into the futures markets, stating that it has been growing, most notably with increasing volumes coming from Asian markets, which McCourt described as “Fascinating”
“Out of the 40 percent of bitcoin futures trading on CME that’s outside the U.S., 21 percent are coming from Asia.”
This sentiment was echoed by Don Wilson, founder of trading firm DRW, who added that volume from Asian markets was quickly approaching that of the US and in some cases on par, something he says is an anomaly when it comes to other financial instruments. The CME launched bitcoin futures trading in December of last year at the highs of the crypto market, at launch many saw the move as purely opportunistic, however McCourt clarified that the inclusion of bitcoin into its futures options was:
“In response to demand from market participants who want to trade crypto derivatives on a regulated exchange.”
he further added:
“They want a regulated exchange to provide that vehicle with risk management to increase their comfort level.”
Also sitting on the panel, Phillip Gillespie, CEO of B2C2 Japan, expanded, stating that, as the larger crypto exchanges are moving more into derivatives and spot trading, regulators are beginning to take the space far more seriously now, something that may open the gates to wider institutional investors into the crypto markets.
CoinDesk reported earlier within the year that trading volume of bitcoin derivative products in Japan had grown from $2 million in 2014 to a staggering $543 billion in 2017 and there are no signs of this growth slowing yet.
