Bitcoin price (BTC) is heading for $20k as CME Group futures trading begins
Bitcoin is heading towards the $20,000 mark as bitcoin futures trading is set to begin on another exchange.
Futures contracts on the cryptocurrency with CME Group will begin later on Sunday which is expected to bring a greater volume of trades of a bigger size than those on the Cboe market, on which the futures debuted last week.
CME, a rival of Cboe, is the world’s largest derivatives exchange operator.
Read more: Andrew Bailey: Bitcoin investors should be prepared to lose all their money
The launch is seen as another crucial step in bitcoin’s move towards acceptability among big institutional investors. The cryptocurrency has to date experienced high levels of volatility and only been accessible through largely unregulated markets.
Unlike the Cboe contracts, the CME contracts will be priced off an index of data from several cryptocurrency exchanges, instead of just one.
“So there is a possibility that the CME contract may generate more interest and more volume,” said Matt Osborne from Altegris.
Meanwhile, online brokerage TD Ameritrade will add bitcoin futures trading to its platform from Monday amid growing demand for the cryptocurrency. It will offer access to Cboe contracts.
Bitcoin’s price rose as high as $19,783 today before edging back down to around $19,000 at the time of writing.
Investors were warned last week by the UK’s top financial regulator to be prepared to lose all of their money if they put cash into bitcoin.