<p>Derivatives exchange giant CME Group expects its upcoming bitcoin options to be popular with Asian cryptocurrency traders and miners.</p> <p>The exchange is hopeful that the options contracts will be as popular as bitcoin futures, which drive most demand (over 50% of trading volume) from Asian and European traders, Tim McCourt, global head of equity index and alternative investment products at CME, <a href="https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3032219/exchange-provider-cme-group-expects-bitcoin-options-be-hit">told</a> the South China Morning Post (SCMP) in an interview published Thursday.</p> <p><a href="https://www.theblockresearch.com/cme-group-is-sharing-details-on-bitcoin-options-that-could-signal-an-imminent-product-launch-38462">The Block broke the news</a> last month that CME is going to launch bitcoin options. Later that month, the exchange officially <a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/40440/cme-group-to-launch-bitcoin-options-in-q1-2020">announced</a> the news, saying that the new product will launch in Q1 of 2020.</p> <p>“While futures give you a one-for-one exposure, whereby the movement of the underlying bitcoin translates directly to a specific dollar value per contract, an option gives you varying strike-price levels and can give you either downside protection, or upside exposure at a fraction of the underlying [assets’s] price,” McCourt was quoted as saying in the SCMP report.</p> <p>CME began offering bitcoin futures in December 2017, and since the launch, it has traded nearly 7,000 futures contracts (equivalent to about 35,000 bitcoin), on average each day.</p>