CME Group to launch bitcoin options in Q1 2020

Bitcoin • September 20, 2019, 9:03AM EDT
UPDATED: September 20, 2019, 9:12AM EDT
Tim Boyle/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Derivatives exchange giant CME Group has announced that it will launch bitcoin options contracts in Q1 2020.

The Block reported the news earlier this month that CME is going to add another bitcoin product to its marketplace. The exchange has today announced that the options product is pending regulatory review.

"Based on increasing client demand and robust growth in our Bitcoin futures markets, we believe the launch of options will provide our clients with additional flexibility to trade and hedge their bitcoin price risk," said Tim McCourt, global head of equity index and alternative investment products at CME.

Tim added: "These new products are designed to help institutions and professional traders to manage spot market bitcoin exposure, as well as hedge Bitcoin futures positions in a regulated exchange environment."

CME currently offers bitcoin futures contracts, having launched the product in 2017. Since the launch, nearly 7,000 CME Bitcoin futures contracts (equivalent to about 35,000 bitcoin) have traded on average each day, the exchange said today, adding that over 3,300 individual accounts have traded the product since inception.

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Yogita Khatri is a senior reporter at The Block and the author of The Funding newsletter. As our longest-serving editorial member, Yogita has been instrumental in breaking numerous stories, exclusives and scoops. With over 3,000 articles to her name, Yogita is The Block's most-published and most-read author of all time. Before joining The Block, Yogita wrote for CoinDesk and The Economic Times. You can reach her at [email protected] or follow her latest updates on X at @Yogita_Khatri5.

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