Bitcoin Futures Listed by Chicago Board Options Exchange

[Raevenlord]

That sole title may make proponents of Bitcoin make waves of contentment, whereas those that are more skeptical of the cryptocurrency (or cryptocurrencies in general) will likely find themselves shaking their heads in dismay. Whether you're on one of those camps, or Bitcoin is just indifferent for you, the fact that a cryptocurrency has made its way to a bona fide exchange should likely mean one thing: Bitcoin's valuation is only ever more likely to increase now.

Futures trading is one of the wildest, less material forms of trading, since the actual property of the item whose futures you're investing into never becomes yours. Instead, futures trading is more akin to betting, where investors gauge the expected value of a product in the future. A futures trader may invest in the price of rice in China, the expected value of shares for a given company, the value of a fiat currency... And now, the value of bitcoin. Usually, the best futures traders make their decisions based on actual real world data that might affect their investment. The thing here that might propel Bitcoin's value upwards, is that we're already seeing the effect this futures trading has brought upon Bitcoin. Remember that Nicehash hack that resulted in the theft of a puny $68M? Well, historically, hacks in cryptocurrencies have brought about plummeting value, as investors knee-jerk and cash-out before the same can happen to them (among other variables). However, the hype from Bitcoin being traded in an exchange has been so great in the past few weeks that the Nicehash hack didn't register as so much as a blip in Bitcoin's value, in the grand scheme of things. It's just kept on increasing.





The thing with futures trading is that it takes the initial pricing of Bitcoin as a baseline, almost setting it in amber. Bitcoin futures (XBT) valuation will reinforce street pricing of Bitcoin, in such a way that predicting Bitcoin's pricing to be at $18,600 per Bitcoin with an expiration of January 17th 2018 (as they currently are), will increase the likelihood of an increasing valuation of Bitcoin up to that moment. It's really circular thinking - and now there's another way for investors to accrue value from bitcoin, while skirting the risk and hassles of actually holding the coin. In fact, traders can now even short the cryptocurrency - but your mileage may vary on the results obtained from that one move.



Whatever your opinion of Bitcoin or crypto in general, this futures trading in one of New York's foremost exchanges is bound to bring increased legitimacy to the cryptocurrency, as is being hailed as a sign of maturity for the cryptocurrency ecosystem at large.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[punani]

 

[Th3pwn3r]

Wait until they see the fluctuations.

 

[the54thvoid]

It's gambling on the value of bitcoin. Now it's pure speculation. The king is dead, long live the king.

 

[_JP_]

So, asserting a direct belief in value over time, on an item which by itself only holds value based on a group of people that choose to endure their convictions albeit not knowing fully how said item works in its inner self, or the objective of its function besides what one could/can potentially extract from it, while advertising the worth of committing to it.
Now tell me how this is different from religion.

 

[Vya Domus]

It's gambling on the value of bitcoin. Now it's pure speculation. The king is dead, long live the king.

The biggest problem is that at this point cryptocurrency is used exclusively just for making money instead of distributing them. Everyone just keeps buying and dumping , no one gives a shit about it as an actual currency and use it accordingly. This isn't sustainable but that's just the way I see it.

 

[cryohellinc]

And the bubble keeps growing.....

 

[Basard]

Yup, the amount of basement dwellers sucking somebody else's electricity is definitley on the rise... or is it?!?

 

[R0H1T]

And the bubble keeps growing.....

Just wait till the (crypto) market cap exceeds a trillion dollars, that's when every layman & his dog will know there's something called BTC or ETH. At this point in time I'm 100% certain that the big money involved in crypto isn't going to let regulations get in the way of them making even more money

Donald Trump move aside, 2018 is the year of crypto ~ https://coinmarketcap.com/charts/

 

[cryohellinc]

Just wait till the (crypto) market cap exceeds a trillion dollars, that's when every layman & his dog will know there's something called BTC or ETH. At this point in time I'm 100% certain that the big money involved in crypto isn't going to let regulations get in the way of them making even more money

Donald Trump move aside, 2018 is the year of crypto ~ https://coinmarketcap.com/charts/

"PoP"

 

[R0H1T]

"PoP"

Oh it will pop but when is the trillion dollar question, besides there's literally a 1000 other currencies people can roulette with.

 

[the54thvoid]

So, asserting a direct belief in value over time, on an item which by itself only holds value based on a group of people that choose to endure their convictions albeit not knowing fully how said item works in its inner self, or the objective of its function besides what one could/can potentially extract from it, while advertising the worth of committing to it.
Now tell me how this is different from religion.

We're not yet killing each other over it. It's not a proper religion until then.

 

[R-T-B]

The biggest problem is that at this point cryptocurrency is used exclusively just for making money instead of distributing them. Everyone just keeps buying and dumping , no one gives a shit about it as an actual currency and use it accordingly. This isn't sustainable but that's just the way I see it.

Bitcoin, not cryptocurrency. There is a reason more usable litecoin is surging now.

Otherwise I agree completely.

Yup, the amount of basement dwellers sucking somebody else's electricity is definitley on the rise... or is it?!?

Trust me, that's really not whats happening.

Oh it will pop but when is the trillion dollar question, besides there's literally a 1000 other currencies people can roulette with.

I've always been of the opinion it won't "pop," just shift to another actually usable coin.

And as the last week in litecoin has shown, my predictions tend to be scary acurate.

 

[cryohellinc]

And as the last week in litecoin has shown, my predictions tend to be scary acurate.

Yeah, up to the point where it PoP's.

 

[R-T-B]

Yeah, up to the point where it PoP's.

People have been saying that since 2011. I'll just keep waiting for that one to come true...

At this point, year to year, I've been winning that bet hands down.

One thing is for certain, if it is ready to "pop" there will be signs beforehand. None of which I have seen yet.

 

[_JP_]

@the54thvoid Correct, however I'm very sure the nicehash situation left the desire in many, clueless as they were to the inevitability, but still.

 

[Fx]

The biggest problem is that at this point cryptocurrency is used exclusively just for making money instead of distributing them. Everyone just keeps buying and dumping , no one gives a shit about it as an actual currency and use it accordingly. This isn't sustainable but that's just the way I see it.

This is a very important point that you make. Unfortunately, many people don't recognize that.

 

[R-T-B]

This is a very important point that you make. Unfortunately, many people don't recognize that.

That's because it's mostly applicaple to bitcoin only. Other currencies are far more usable.